European Parliament approves Earth Observation System

The European Parliament (EP) on Wednesday gave the green light to "Copernicus," the EU's new Earth Observation System. Copernicus has a budget of 4,2 billion euro for 2014-2020 and its data will serve many purposes, including monitoring climate change and protecting public security, said an EP statement. Copernicus will ensure access to full, open and free-of-charge information in the areas of land, marine environment, atmosphere, climate change, emergency management and security. This data will be gathered from several Earth observation satellites and a multitude of sensors on the ground, at sea or in the air. The regulation will now have to be approved by the EU Council of Ministers.