The most important European space body, the ESA Council of Ministers, meets in Bremen. It’s about competitiveness, autonomy, security and the distribution of up to 22 billion euros.
Europe is in danger of losing out in the global space race. “We have to catch up economically,” says Josef Aschbacher, head of the space agency ESA. It covers around 60 percent of European space spending. The problem: Investments in space travel in Europe are much lower than in the USA, says Aschbacher.
At the ESA Ministerial Council Conference in Bremen, which begins on Wednesday, the Austrian is calling for a significant increase in the budget. While 16.9 billion euros were approved at the last ESA summit in Paris in 2022, Aschbacher in Bremen is now proposing a total of around 22 billion euros for the next three years.
Germany, which paid in 3.5 billion euros in Paris, is already the largest contributor, ahead of France and Italy, with 21 percent of the total budget. And it should stay that way. In the coalition agreement, the SPD and the Union have already announced an expansion of their own contribution – and the federal government has also recently confirmed this.
Three federal states could benefit
Three federal states in particular could benefit from this: Bremen, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. In Bremen, for example, the aerospace company Airbus is building the propulsion and supply module for NASA’s new lunar spacecraft Orion; the rocket manufacturer ArianeGroup and the satellite manufacturer OHB are based here. In Bavaria, the Oberpfaffenhofen space location in particular is one of the heavyweights in the industry. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is located there with its control centers for earth observation, robotics and manned missions. Baden-Württemberg, on the other hand, is home to one of Europe’s leading industrial clusters for space technology. The DLR in Lampoldshausen operates Europe’s most important test stands for rocket engines.
Accordingly, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) and Bremen’s Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) have already positioned themselves in a three-country paper before the ESA Council of Ministers meeting – and formulated a financial wish list for satellite technology, carrier systems and the like.
However, the representatives of the other ESA member states also put such wish lists on the negotiating table. Delegations from 23 countries will travel to the conference in Bremen – each with their own project and financing proposals. The organizers expect around 500 participants.
“Dual use” is coming into focus
In addition, the focus is no longer just on classic civilian ESA topics such as science programs, navigation and earth observation satellites and various missions to the Moon and Mars.
How Europe’s highest space committee positions itself strategically towards private rocket builders and satellite operators such as SpaceX and other countries is also coming into focus. “We cannot be naive and just watch what China or the USA do,” said Federal Space Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU) when she and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) announced the cabinet decision for the first German “space security strategy” last week.
The ESA Ministerial Council meeting in Bremen could also lead to a stronger security policy course that complements the space agency’s primarily civilian orientation. “It is very important to me, especially in the area of research policy, that we no longer close our eyes to topics such as dual use,” said Bär.
