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Projects: Space Advocacy

ESA Council of Ministers Commits Europe to a Leading Role in Space

The European Space Agency (ESA) will play a leading role in space exploration in the coming decades. This was the unmistakable message of the ESA council of ministers, which met in Berlin on December 5 and 6 to decide on the ESA budget in the coming years. The ministers, representing the 17 member countries of the European Union, agreed to increase ESA’s budget to 8.3 billion Euros ($9.8 billion) for the years 2006 – 2008.

Several elements in the new budget are particularly important for ESA’s future in space. Aurora, the European program for exploring the solar system, received 650 million Euros in funding, a full 10% more than the amount requested.  Most of this sum will go to Aurora’s first project, ExoMars, a Mars rover designed specifically to search for signs of life on the Red Planet. Unlike previous rovers, ExoMars will be equipped with a drill, which will enable it to extend its probe beneath the Martian surface. In their meeting, the ministers accepted ESA’s proposal to launch ExoMars in 2011.

"ESA's recent successes with Mars Express, SMART-1 and Huygens, and the launch of Venus Express are obviously whetting the European appetite for space exploration” said Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society.  “The 2011 European Mars mission is something to look forward to."

ESA’s science allocations, currently at 400 million Euros ($470 million), will increase by 2.5% annually over the next 5 years. This amounts to a 0.5% annual increase above the rate of inflation. The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) was funded at 253 million Euros ($253 million) for the next two years, which is more than ESA had asked for. GMES is a network of environmental satellites that could provide warning of unforeseen weather phenomena such as tsunamis, and could potentially have military applications as well.

Click to enlarge > ESA logo The European Space Agency (ESA) logo Credit: ESA

Another key resolution reached by the council of ministers was to require member countries to use European launch vehicles in government-funded space missions, unless the non-European launchers are more than 25% chepaer than the European option. In addition, the budget provided 1 billion Euros ($1.2 billion) in funding for the European launcher program.

"Overall a success, but Europe is still far from where it should be, looking at its GNP, in space expenditures," said Roger Bonnet, former ESA science director and a member of the International COuncil of The Planetary Society's Board of Directors. "In conclusion we should not in Europe rest on this success but continue to maintain the pressure especially on science related  programs since the outcome of the Berlin Council is just compensating  the yearly inflation and is just sufficient to provide the Science program with a constant purchasing power."