Argos Foundation
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The Argos Foundation, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Argos Foundation sponsors a number of programs which expand and enhance the use of satellite-based technologies in four focus areas of activity: humanitarian applications, environmental science and protection, peace and security applications, and educational programs and applications.
The Argos Foundation was established in 2003 by the CLS Group of Companies, headquartered in Toulouse, France. Incorporated in March 2004, the Foundation has since gained significant support from a wide variety of industrial sponsors from the satellite communications industry, from Government, and from private individuals. Stephen Lee Morgan, then-President of North American CLS, Inc., spearheaded the establishment of the Foundation, and serves as the Foundation's first President & CEO. Ms. Siobhan Mullen served as the Foundation's first Executive Vice President.
In the environmental arena, the Foundation sponsors a number of programs. In August 2004, the Foundation joined with North American CLS, Inc., the Florida Aerospace Finance Corporation, and the Florida Space Research Institute, to establish the Centers for Space Oceanography. CSO currently operates as a division of the Foundation, and is headquartered in Cape Canaveral, Florida. CSO is developing specialized applications using a number of space-based platforms to conduct oceanographic observation and analysis from space. Sophisticated software programs developed by CSO researchers and partners provide detailed data fusion maps, displays, and forecasts of the ocean environment from space, including tracking of currents, wave height, ocean surface height, ocean color, and other parameters. Such software tools can be used to provide predictions of eddies, currents, temperatures, algal blooms, etc., in support of operational activities at sea. Applications include commercial fishing, marine animal tracking, impact of ocean currents on coastal and littoral regions, etc. CSO's principal areas of interest include sustainable fisheries management, tracking and observation of marine animals (e.g., turtles, marine mammals, etc.), and observation of coastal regions. CSO's first Executive Director is Lawrence M. Harvey, a retired Naval Aviator, formerly with the Hubb Institute of SeaWorld.
In October 2004, the Foundation joined with Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society, the Florida Aerospace Finance Corporation, and North American CLS, Inc., to establish the Global Ocean Network or GON. The GON concept has been under development by Cousteau for several years at Ocean Futures, as a legacy program to establish a fleet of ocean-going research vessels to be based in every ocean in the world. Working with the Foundation, Ocean Futures seeks to move GON from a concept to a self-sustaining operational program, headquartered in the State of Florida, but with operations and programs extending around the world. The GON organization retained the Foundation to manage the program and to develop the GON business plan. Cousteau serves as the Chairman of the GON initiative, while Stephen Lee Morgan of the Foundation serves as Vice Chairman, and Siobhan Mullen, also of the Foundation, serves as President & CEO of the GON organization.
In the educational arena, the Foundation sponsors a number of projects with educational partners. Several initiatives are underway in cooperation with Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter, Florida. The Foundation has sponsored a number of students in the area of port and container security at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. In February 2005, the Foundation established a second operating division known as the Argos Institute. This organization is developing a comprehensive suite of courses in the various application areas of interest to the Foundation, ranging from satellite technology applications, to the history of space launch facilities.
In the peace and security arena, the Foundation has joined with the Center for Intermodal Transportation Safety & Security, a university-based organization designed to provide new technologies to secure Florida's transportation infrastructure. The Foundation is also an organizational member of the National Safe Waterways & Seaports Alliance. The Foundation sponsors a regular column on technological innovation, in cooperation with Cargo Security International magazine, a trade publication based in the United Kingdom.
