The Director General of the European Space Agency announced today a plan for a disaster support initiative that would employ the agency's satellites to assist authorities as they prepare for and deal with catastrophies.

The plan, called the Space System Operators' Charter, would be open to all space agencies and satellite operators. Signatories would be required to share data from their satellites and ground facilities to nations facing disasters.

The director, Antonio Rodota, made the comments at the Third United Nations Conference on Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Space, held in Vienna.

ESA operates two radar satellites, launched in 1991 and 1995, which collect data about the Earth's land, oceans, ice, and atmosphere. Envisat-1, a more advanced weather forecasting satellite, is scheduled to be launched in 2000.

The agency has fourteen member nations: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdrom.