FLUG REVUE February 2006: ESA ministers approve plans

February 2006

ESA MINISTERS APPROVE FUTURE PROJECTS

By Matthias Gründer

In the run-up to the Berlin meeting of ESA's Council at Ministerial Level, the German space industry launched a much noticed advertising campaign centred around the slogan, “Everyone is in space, only Germany is left behind on the ground.” It seems that the results of the Bundestag elections and now this campaign have helped to introduce a somewhat fresher wind into national space policy.

Indeed, things were not looking good for the German space industry in the autumn of 2005. Disproportionate cuts in financial resources and the lack of clear statements on the future of programmes which run for many years were not exactly generating optimism in the industry. Meanwhile EADS was threatening to suspend the Ariane programme on the grounds that the long-term continuation of this loss-making business was not acceptable to the company.

Was this just a case of playing poker to secure subsidies, following the principle of, “Demand twice as much and you will get what you actually needed”? Hardly. After many years of cries for help going unheeded by the politicians in Berlin, the new government seems at least to be opening one ear. The willingness of the black-red coalition to commit to greater involvement in space at a time when an economy drive is the order of the day cannot be praised highly enough. A similar phenomenon is discernible among the other partner states as well, so that the budget conceded to the European Space Agency is now looking positively encouraging. We present selected figures below (the figures in brackets refer to the relevant timescales). It should be borne in mind, moreover, that the next meeting of the ESA Council at Ministerial Level has been set for 2008.

- Euro3.1 billion will be available to ESA for its obligatory research programme (2006-2010), of which Euro2.1 billion is earmarked for the Scientific Programme;

- Euro3.8 billion has been approved for the continuation of non-obligatory programmes, including Euro1.3 billion for the life sciences (2008-2013), Euro0.6 billion for telecommunications (2006-2010) and Euro0.8 billion for manned spaceflight (2005-2008/9);

- Euro1.1 billion has been earmarked to continue the Ariane 5 programme and develop the small VEGA platform (2006-2010);

- Euro0.2 billion is to be provided for Earth observation (2006-2008), Euro0.8 billion for space research (core programme to 2009, ExoMars to 2011, Clipper to 2007) and Euro0.4 billion for new technologies (2006-2010).

These are just a few excerpts from the budget discussions. At the same time the departmental ministers responsible for spaceflight in the 17 Member States approved a plan for European spaceflight under the heading, “Research and competitiveness”. The new prospects outlined in the plan will help Europe and its co-operation partner Canada to identify clear prospects and specific resources aimed at strengthening their competitive position.

The clear prospects in turn result from the view shared by the Council members on the need to maintain a competitive European space industry. This should be in a position to move into new areas of research, guarantee access to strategic data and new services and consolidate its share of the global commercial market.

These statements are no doubt attributable to the recent successes of European scientific missions such as Huygens and Mars Express, which have increased awareness among European citizens of spaceflight and the benefits it offers.

The politicians appear to have woken from a deep sleep

Moreover, the strategic importance of the steady expansion of scientific, technical and industrial space capacities was emphasised as a way of satisfying more effectively people's expectations as regards environment, quality of life and security. On the other hand, the following passage in the Council papers is a little surprising:

“They (author: the ministers) noted with concern that over the last few years the European industry has been confronted with problems due to the sharp decline in the commercial market and competition from companies which operate with lower production costs and that the measures taken by the industry to improve its situation entailed difficult restructuring processes and mergers that have led to a quantitative decline and to a poorer distribution of European capacities.”

This statement is surprising not only on account of the convoluted sentence structure, but also because organisations, institutions and companies have been calling more than loudly, and in fact repeatedly, for more attention from the politicians over the last few years. Have they really only now been awakened by these calls of help, when Germany is the only country to have recently undergone a change of government? At any rate, all the other European ministers who suddenly expressed concern had actually attended the previous Council meetings and share the responsibility for the resolutions which led to this sorry state in the first place.

Forget it! Germany contributed positively to the achievements of the Council meeting. It remains to be seen whether a solution compatible with further development of Ariane will come about, but at least one can feel a little more optimistic after the Berlin conference.

From FLUG REVUE 2/2006

Last updated 12 January 2006

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