The British government on Jan. 31 agreed to invest 15 million British pounds ($25 million) in two French satellite Earth observation programs - one being run with the United States, the other with European governments - as part of a bilateral framework agreement punctuating the growing space policy relations between the two nations. Meeting at the Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton as part of a bilateral summit, the heads of the two nations' space agencies signed agreements that will see British scientists enter into partnership with France for the IASI Next Generation instrument for Europe's weather satellite organization, Eumetsat. The infrared sounding instrument, which measures atmospheric temperature and humidity, will be placed aboard the Eumetsat Metop polar-orbiting meteorological satellites, now in development.
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