Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), does not mince his words.
Europe must urgently acquire a capacity for human spaceflight, he said on Tuesday.
“The United States, China and Russia but also India, very soon, all have a spaceship to send astronauts to the future economic zone which is the Moon, and tomorrow, Mars and beyond.
Europe does not have its own capacity for manned flights in low orbit or for exploration missions.
This is the reality,”
he warns.
As a result,
“we depend on others”
.
Clearly, seats negotiated on board the Russian Soyuz or the Crew Dragon developed by the American SpaceX.
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However, the absence of Europe is not linked to technological delays.
European industry has developed technologies, often on behalf of NASA, such as the service module which will be used to send astronauts to the Moon, from 2024, as part of the American Artemis missions.
"It's a question…
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