The Prime Minister made the announcement at the International Astronautical Congress on Sunday.
France is preparing to invest more than 9 billion euros in the space sector over the next three years, an envelope which includes many of the credits already voted, announced Sunday Elisabeth Borne at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris. “In total, France is preparing to invest more than 9 billion euros in the space sector over the next three years, for research and our space industry.“, declared the Prime Minister at the opening of the IAC, which brings together until Thursday several thousand representatives of the world space community.
These investmentsadultsare part of the space strategy defined by President Emmanuel Macron last February, she underlined. “The first strategy is to maintain our independent access to space with Europe” and that’s why “we need strong resources and cutting-edge researchpleaded Elisabeth Borne, detailing the ambitions for launchers (Ariane 6), industrial competitiveness, exploration, climate and defence.
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The envelope of 9 billion euros includes 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, the means “massivefor the Cnes (National Center for Space Studies) as well as those of the 2019-2025 military programming law (5 billion euros). Also included, the next French contribution to the budget of the European Space Agency which will be voted on at the ministerial conference in November in Paris. France’s exact budget will be discussed on this occasion, Matignon was told.
The ESA intends to ask its 22 Member States around 18 billion euros to finance its programs over the next three years. “It is fundamental to have given this global framework“, reacted to AFP Jean-Marc Astorg, director of strategy at Cnes. The envelope given by the executive goes “enable the entire space ecosystem – Cnes, the space industry and the scientific community – to find the most efficient way to commit credits by the end of the year“, he welcomed.
After her speech to thousands of delegates, the Prime Minister went to meet officials from Cnes (National Center for Space Studies), host of the IAC, as well as French astronaut Thomas Pesquet.