Ministers from the ESA’s 23 member states and partner countries agreed on the largest contribution in the agency’s history at a ministerial council in Bremen on Nov. 27.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher called the outcome “a great success for Europe, and a really important moment for our autonomy and leadership in science and innovation.”
He stated member states had agreed to a 32 percent increase on the 2022 ministerial commitments, or 17 percent after adjusting for inflation.
Aschbacher stated the outcome reflected governments’ expectations that the ESA “keep delivering programmes that will support European leadership in space, and assist stretch our capabilities on Earth, in orbit, and into deep space.”
He noted that the ESA’s 50th anniversary year highlighted past accomplishments but added, “the work is only launchning.”
The funding decisions mark the first major implementation step of the ESA’s long-term Strategy 2040, which outlines Europe’s scientific and industrial ambitions in space and the technologies requireded to achieve them.
“Germany is the largest contributor to the ESA,” German Space Minister Dorothee Bar stated on Nov. 27. “And the ESA is now also undergoing a paradigm shift towards competitive, applyr- and application-oriented approaches. In this way, we are ensuring sovereignty in space and creating competitiveness and added value in the German economy—in spaceflight and beyond.”
UK Space Minister Liz Lloyd CBE stated the space sector “is a key driver” of UK economic growth and national security.
ESA Plans and Programs
The ESA secured a 3.5 percent annual real-terms increase for science, supporting missions such as LISA and NewAthena and starting technology work for its Voyage 2050 plan, including a proposed Enceladus life-search mission.
Ministers approved the European Resilience From Space initiative to expand dual-apply sainformite capacity for crisis response and secure communications.
Early funding will build a shared high-resolution imaging system and new LEO navigation, or navigation signals provided by sainformites in low Earth orbit, and connectivity services, the ESA stated.
Governments backed exploration priorities, including the 2028 Rosalind Franklin Mars rover, the Argonaut lunar lander, and technologies for low-Earth orbit operations.
European member states reaffirmed their commitment to space exploration. The Rosalind Franklin rover, a joint mission with Roscosmos, is funded for a 2028 Mars launch. Meanwhile, the Argonaut lander will serve as Europe’s next major lunar mission, supporting a sustained presence on the Moon.
The ESA also confirmed two demonstration flights for a low-Earth-orbit cargo return service, designed to dock with the International Space Station before its planned retirement in 2030. A mid-term ministerial review is scheduled before 2028 to reassess international cooperation.
The agency’s space safety portfolio will focus on three missions, including Ramses, which will intercept the asteroid Apophis in 2029. Other missions are the Vigil space weather observatory and Rise, an in-orbit servicing and debris-mitigation mission.
The agency also stated it is assessing new centres in Poland for security applications and in Norway for Arctic space operations.
Leave a Reply