Abstract
European astronomy owes its present positions of leadership to the development of pan-European cooperation. For many years, this happened mainly through a few international organisations, chiefly the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Their success highlights the potential of the much greater resources invested in European astronomy through national programmes, especially when including university institutes and staff. From 2005, the ASTRONET consortium of funding agencies for astronomy plus ESO and ESA has worked to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for coordinating these investments. The aim is to globally optimise their scientific returns and include all of Europe. Based on a long-term Science Vision (2007), the ASTRONET Infrastructure Roadmap (2008) describes a coherent investment plan for new infrastructures at all wavelengths, on the ground and in space; the necessary underpinning of theory, computing and human resources; and initiatives to maximise their benefit for society in general. This article describes the ASTRONET process, its status as of 2010, and the strategy for implementing its plans over the next several years.
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Acknowledgements
The pioneering efforts of the first ASTRONET Coordinator and Project Manager, Drs. Anne-Marie Lagrange and Fabienne Casoli, defined and largely established the scope and structure of the project that have proved so successful. It is appropriate to also salute the dedication and hard work of the task leaders for the two cornerstone actions of ASTRONET, Tim de Zeeuw for the Science Vision and Mike Bode for the Infrastructure Roadmap, and their more than 100 Panel members who gave freely of their time and wisdom for the common cause. The effective and always pleasant cooperation of the present coordinator, Dr. Jean-Marie Hameury, the Project Office staff, and all the Board members is gratefully acknowledged, both by the project itself and by this author personally. I also thank Jean-Marie Hameury and Mike Bode for valuable comments on a draft of this article. ASTRONET is supported through ERA-NET contracts from the European Commission, no. 026075 under FP6 and no. 262162 under FP7.
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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
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Andersen, J. (2011). Building a Strong, Unified European Astronomy. In: Lasota, JP. (eds) Astronomy at the Frontiers of Science. Integrated Science & Technology Program, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1658-2_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1658-2_9
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