Preserve Europe’s independent access to space. At a time when the conquest of space has resumed in the United States with the “Artemis” program back on the Moon, when Elon Musk is developing his network of Starlink satellites to broadcast high-speed Internet anywhere on the planet and when the Chinese no longer hide their ambitions with their own space station, the Europeans must react.
And France in particular, which represents 50% of European space, ahead of Germany and Italy. In this context, on the occasion of the opening of the 73e International Astronautical Congress, which began on Sunday, September 18, in Paris, Elisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister, announced that more than 9 billion euros over three years will be invested in launchers (Ariane 6), competitiveness industrial, exploration, climate and defence. That is almost 25% more than in the previous three years.
In this envelope presented by the Head of Government, some funding is already known, such as the credits for the space component of the France 2030 investment plan (1.5 billion euros), those for the trajectory of the programming law for research voted until 2030, those for the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) as well as part of the 5 billion of the military programming law 2019-2025.
Also included is the next French contribution to the budget of the European Space Agency (ESA), which will be decided by the twenty-two member countries during the ministerial conference in November in Paris. Its exact amount has not yet been determined, everything will depend on the discussions and the projects, the ESA wishing nearly 18 billion euros to finance its programs for the next three years.
This will benefit “the whole industry”
For these investments “major”Mme Borne has set a method by asking the three ministers responsible for space (defence, research and industry) to work together and look subject by subject at how to allocate these new means. The possibilities are numerous and vary according to the project. This can go through international agreements, CNES establishing cooperation with other agencies such as the American NASA or the Japanese Jextro, through a contribution to the ESA, the European Commission, or by subsidizing start-ups.
“This quantified trajectory is very good news for the sector, rejoices the president of CNES, Philippe Baptiste, because, to this strong ambition, the government has added an extremely clear methodology. This will already enable us to prepare for the ESA ministerial meeting. »
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