Headquartered in central Paris, the agency comes under the supervision of the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation.

As of January 2015[update], CNES is working with Germany and a few other governments to start a modest research effort with the hope to propose a LOX/methane reusable launch vehicle by mid-2015.

The design objective is to reduce both the cost and duration of reusable vehicle refurbishment, and is partially motivated by the pressure of lower-cost competitive options with newer technological capabilities not found in the Ariane 6.

[17] CNES and its partners in Europe—through the Copernicus Programme —and around the world have put in place satellites dedicated to observing the land, oceans, and atmosphere, as well as to hazard and crisis management.

[19] France's contribution to the International Space Station is giving French scientists the opportunity to perform original experiments in microgravity.

It has also collaborated with the Indian Space Agency (ISRO) on the Megha-Tropiques Mission, which is studying the water cycle and how it has been impacted by climate change.

Jacques Arnould, an official for the French Space Agency, said that the data had accumulated over a 30-year period and that UFO sightings were often reported to the Gendarmerie.

The 100,000 pages of witness testimony, photographs, film footage, and audiotapes are an accumulation of over 1,600 sightings since 1954 and will include all future UFO reports obtained by the agency, through its GEIPAN unit.