Europe wants to be more involved in space with moon missions, asteroid defense and other ambitious projects in the future. At the Council of Ministers Conference "Space19 +" in Seville, Spain, the 22 members of the European Space Agency Esa decided to unexpectedly raise the budget for the coming years to 14.4 billion euros. It is a record sum.
Three years ago in Lucerne, a budget of only 10.3 billion had been approved. "That's very surprising, that's more than I had suggested," said Esa CEO Jan Wörner at the conclusion of the two-day conference. "I am very happy!"
With about 3.3 billion euros (previously 1.9 billion), Germany takes over from France (2.6 billion) the role of the largest contributor. The German delegation reached thereby in the southspan city according to own statement also all set goals. "We are very satisfied," said German chief negotiator Thomas Jarzombek. Space travel is not only given more attention in Germany than in the past.
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With the high budget, the taxpayer can hope for something in return. Because 2.54 billion flow into Earth observation projects, which also allow a better understanding of climate change. So the responsible Esa director Josef Aschbacher announced more exact measurements of the CO2-emission.
A good 2.2 billion euros will be invested in space transportation. This includes the new launcher "Ariane 6". Exploration by humans and robots - including the moon missions - receive almost two billion euros. Science programs cost around 1.7 billion and telecommunications technology 1.5 billion euros.
The Germans also said that the Esa program focuses on Earth observation, science programs, lunar missions and the international space station ISS.
"Humanity is threatened"
In Seville, it became clear that space travel is not just a matter of prestige against the backdrop of increasing international competition from the private sector such as SpaceX. These include competitiveness, jobs, environmental protection, sovereignty and, last but not least, security on earth, said Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
"Humanity is under threat, asteroids could hit Earth, and we championed the mission of Hera to fight asteroids," Jarzombek said. The project aims to work with Nasa to develop a technique that can divert asteroids that are on a collision course with Earth (read more about the project here). "We do not want to die out because of a meteorite," Wörner said in Seville with reference to the fate of the dinosaurs. They died probably about 66 million years ago, because a meteorite hit the earth.
In the meantime, the Esa is looking forward to the moon program "Artemis" of the US space agency Nasa. In 2024, according to the plans of President Donald Trump, US astronauts will again land on the moon. Europe is involved in this, but for the time being is only to contribute a service module to drive the space capsule Orion. But the Esa boss is not satisfied with that. "We will also bring Europeans to the moon," Wörner assured.
