EC seeks boost in space spending

The European Commission today appealed to governments to increase spending on space technology to prevent the bloc from falling behind newcomers such as China, Brazil and India in an increasingly competitive commercial market.

The EC said public spending on space technologies should be increased by up to 4.6% a year, from the current level of €5.4bn for this year.

The extra money would attract more commercial investors, boosting growth and jobs in an industry that already employs 30,000 people in 2,000 companies around Europe.

“The development of Europe’s capabilities in satellite communications, global positioning, and Earth observation will boost applications and have important social, economic and commercial benefits for Europe,” said EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin.

He said in Brussels that a revamped space policy help Europe compete with China, which recently put an astronaut into space, and India and Brazil which are tapping space technologies for growth.

Technological independence from the United States is a key factor in the call for a more structured European space program that would dovetail better with the financially strapped European Space Agency, a 13 nation, Paris-based group that is separate from the EU.

Although the ESA’s Ariane programme is a leader in the satellite launch market, European nations have a patchy record in developing space technologies due to bickering over funding and sharing benefits for their industries.

In 2002, they launched their ambitious Galileo satellite navigation system, but only after numerous delays.

The EC report urged member states to take a greater role in developing space-age technologies, promoting space exploration, attracting more young people to science careers in science and crafting a much more competitive space sector.

“Space technologies can deliver large commercial benefits,” it said.

“Standing still is not an option,” said Busquin.

This month, ESA cancelled part of a mission to Mercury and a mission that was to look for planets circling other stars due to budget problems caused by delays in the agency’s troubled Ariane-5 rocket programme.