Europe Space Agency sets 10-bln-euro space budget

Nov 21, 2012

Members of European Space Agency (ESA) on Wednesday approved a multi-year budget of 10 billion euros ($12.3 billion), ESA director general Jean-Jacques Dordain said, hailing this as a "big success."

Spending levels are largely unchanged compared with the outgoing budget, but "it's a big success in spite of the ," Dordain said after a two-day strategy meeting of the 20-nation agency.

Dordain had proposed three-year spending of 12 billion euros ($15 billion) but had said last week he would be satisfied with "something around 10 billion euros," meaning that current levels would be maintained.

In the event, spending will be just over 10 billion euros, he said.

Many of ESA's members are struggling with constrained budgets, and many proposed space projects have been sidelined in the light of close scrutiny.

The meeting was the first at ministerial level in four years.

The budget is averaged out over three years, but many programmes can be longer or shorter than this.

The budget includes funding for a new launcher, called ME, which would start to fly in 2017, and work towards a successor, Ariane 6, whose maiden flight would be in 2021 or 2022.

It also funds ESA's continuing participation in the to 2020.

Explore further: France, Germany compromise on Ariane launcher: minister

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User comments : 4

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Squirrel
1 / 5 (4) Nov 21, 2012
"Big Success" for those spending the billions but is it for eurotaxpayers?
chromodynamics
5 / 5 (2) Nov 21, 2012
Speaking as a European taxpayer. Yes. Research is always important. Its not like europe is in as bad a state as the media makes out anyways. I dont see anyone struggling here and im in ireland, which is appearently fucked from what the media says.
antialias_physorg
5 / 5 (4) Nov 21, 2012
Its not like europe is in as bad a state as the media makes out anyways

I have to agree. We always whine - even when things are peachy. So the economy isn't growing as fast as it once did. Boo-hoo.

10bn Euros in 3 years isn't that much. It's less than a third of what NASA gets.
Given the nations supporting ESA financially (EU plus Switzerland and Canada) that taxburden is spread over about 550 million people (for comparison: in the US you have it spread over 310 million)

So for a citizen of an ESA supporting nation the average tax burden for spaceflight is less than 1/6th of that of a US citizen. No biggie.
cantdrive85
2.1 / 5 (7) Nov 21, 2012
Greece and Spain must have moved to Africa recently.

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