Signatures : Angola, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Türkiye, United Kingdom, European Space Agency.
Space-based scientific data – acquired by Earth or Universe observation satellites – has become of utmost importance. Be it for exploring the Universe or monitoring the Earth, it contributes to the advancement of human knowledge and provides scientists, as well as policy makers and citizens with an unprecedented perspective and understanding of our world. To extract and provide relevant information and knowledge to users, scientists need high quality and long-term space-based scientific data that is accessible and reachable everywhere in the world, but also as open as possible in order to be used by any competent person, as well as trustworthy (i.e. reliable and resilient) through the guarantee of its integrity. The following declaration aims at affirming and raising awareness on the need for space-based scientific data to be used around the world at a time when collaborative science is key to understanding our planet and our Universe.
Preamble
We, the Participants,
Having gathered to reaffirm our shared priority for the scientific use of space-based data, at a time of profound transformation of the space and data domains;
Recognizing the growing importance of space-based data for scientific and knowledge purposes, natural resource management, disaster management and emergency response, security, and for sustainable human development and related international goals;
Acknowledging the critical role of accessibility, openness, interoperability and integrity of data in fostering innovation, transparency, and balanced international cooperation;
Affirming our support for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable (FAIR) principles including integrity;
Emphasizing that research, innovation and education are fundamental drivers of progress in the domains using space-based data, indispensable to our ability to meet global challenges ; that the strategic deployment of space science and its subsequent data depends on strong research ecosystems supported by the development of relevant capacities and the training of highly skilled scientists, engineers and operators capable of advancing knowledge and developing sustainable solutions.
Admit the following shared values and priorities.
Shared Values and Priorities
1. Accessibility
We affirm that space-based scientific data will be accessible to all, without discrimination, except for justified exceptions (e.g. national security, public safety, defense, safeguarding of personal data). To this end, and where appropriate, we encourage to pursue open standards and common formats to facilitate data exchange and reuse, and to develop open international platforms for data storage, dissemination, and access.
2. Openness
We underline the need to use open licenses to encourage reuse and dissemination. These data will thus be published according to the aforementioned principles and, where possible and appropriate, as open data to encourage reuse and dissemination. This also implies a comprehensive documentation of data collection, processing, and validation methods where metadata will be complete, accurate, and accompanied by a clear license defining the provisions regarding reuse.
3. Integrity
We emphasize that integrity is necessary for space-based scientific data, implying where appropriate an implementation of traceability and versioning systems to ensure data authenticity and integrity, protection against falsification through the use of verification technologies and independent validation protocols, and accountability. The users are encouraged not to alter the original datasets without preserving provenance or claim of its ownership.
4. International Cooperation
We recognize that providing all the adequate data to the scientific community is a collective responsibility for all stakeholders to produce, acquire, and share data on a reciprocal basis. We commit to strengthening multilateral collaboration, reciprocity, transparency and the dissemination of the subsequent information by harmonizing standards, formats, and protocols for data exchange and sharing. Existing initiatives and research programs must be supported and expanded to maximize the impact of space based scientific data and to improve capacity and skills development.
We thus affirm our collective determination to promote accessible, open and integrity-protected space-based scientific data, while recognizing appropriate conditions for their uses.
We invite all stakeholders (states, agencies, companies, researchers) to sign the declaration.
We are looking forward to periodic reviews to adjust the declaration to societal, technological and scientific advances.
