National Surveillance Organisation (NSO)

National Surveillance Organisation. Embedded in the actual framework for the launchers, the European Space Agency (ESA) issued in 2009 the NSO charter which updated the national government’s assistance in Industrial Quality Surveillance for launcher development and exploitation.

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ractically, this charter requires that each ESA member state, industrially involved in the launcher programs (ARIANE, VEGA et SOYOUZ), supports a local surveillance organization to ensure the highest quality standards be maintained throughout the industrial processes.  For Belgium, this activity was originally performed by the Belgian Defense, who wanted to stop it due to internal manpower constraints. ESA launched an ITT on this topic by early 2013. CSL successfully bid for the new contract. Kick-off took place by December, 6 2013 at the ESA headquarter in Paris.