Dr. Vark Helfritz
Director Strategy & Marketing
Airbus Defence and Space
France

Biography
Dr. Vark Heinrich Helfritz is Director Marketing and Corporate Development of the Geo-Intelligence programme line of Airbus Defence and Space. Dr. Helfritz joined the Airbus Group as a member of the Corporate Young Managers Programme of Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG in 1997/98. From 1988 to 2009, he held management positions at EADS Elbe Flugzeugwerke (Dresden), Airbus (Toulouse) and Astrium Services (Paris). Since 2009, he is the Managing Director of Infoterra GmbH (Friedrichshafen) and Astrium Services GmbH (Munich). Following his appointment as Director Corporate Development of the Geo-Intelligence programme line in 2012, he also took responsibility of the Marketing teams in 2013.

Abstract
Contributions of Airbus Defence and Space to Copernicus and GEOSS

With exclusive access to Pléiades, SPOT 5, SPOT 6 and TerraSAR-X satellite data, Airbus Defence and Space develops an extensive portfolio of products and services spanning the entire geo-information value chain from data acquisition and processing to data management and hosting, sophisticated geo-information services and turnkey integrated solutions. The Geo-Intelligence programme line of Airbus Defence and Space is committed to programmes whose purpose is to make Earth-observation images and geo-information available for worthy causes such as natural and man-made disasters, humanitarian missions, global surveillance of the environment, international security and peacekeeping, education and research. As a matter of example, Airbus Defence and Space actively supports the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters. Airbus Defence and Space participates in the European flagship programme Copernicus, through its contribution to the Services and the Contributing Missions. Copernicus is aimed to be a European contribution to building the Global Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and manifold projects undertaken in this framework can benefit from the Very High Resolution data and increased revisit time of these Contributing Missions. The presentation will introduce the contribution of Airbus Defence and Space to GEOSS and propose schemes for the involvement of the private industry in this frame.