Brussels, 19/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The future of the European Space Agency (ESA) will be decided during the ministerial conference on 20-21 November. The agency's budget will be negotiated there, as well as the future of the Ariane 5 launcher. It is imperative that the latter is updated if it is going to be able to compete but French and German objectives diverge on the subject.
A budget of between €10-12 billion. Ministers responsible for space in the 20 ESA countries and Canada will be meeting in Naples to examine future space agency programmes. An appropriate budget for these programmes will come in for particular scrutiny. The director-general of the ESA, Jean-Jacques Dordain, has put a €12 billion proposal that is needed for the next three years on the table. €5 billion would go to science, in other words exploration of the solar system for example, €4 billion would go to launch services and telecommunication satellites and the final tranche of €3 billion would go to weather services and the continuation of the European Galileo and GMES programmes (environmental monitoring).
In times of crisis, the agency understands very well that it will be difficult to negotiate this amount from member states. The agency, however, is counting on “fair return” as the golden rule for its budget - namely, that for every euro invested by a government, the guaranteed return is expected to be around 90 cents, in the form of contracts in member states. If this argument does not prove convincing, ESA would be satisfied with €10 billion - an envelope that would be equivalent to the agreement obtained in 2008 for the current period, explained a spokesman for Dordain, who is appealing for a stable budget. It should be noted that the main contributors are France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. The latter has also just announced a 25% rise in its contribution to the ESA budget, three weeks ago.
Compromise between Ariane 5 and 6? Another challenge the ministerial conference will have to face involves reaching a decision on the future of the Ariane 5 rocket. The launcher is at risk of being overtaken in the current context of competition and it will need to become less expensive and more competitive. Dordain affirmed in the pages of the French newspaper, Le Figaro, on the eve of the conference, that European users wanted a mechanism that was capable of “launching 3 to 3.5 tonne and 6 to 6.5 tonne satellites. Today, demand for these two categories are far and few between”. Another rocket launcher, Ariane 6, is therefore expected to be developed, as sought by France and other countries. This new launcher would not be available until after 2020. The alternative would therefore be to modernise and more effectively use the current launcher, Ariane 5, by adapting it to new market conditions. Germany would support the least costly option. ESA may therefore look at ways of ensuring the transition to Ariane 6 by developing some of the costs evolving under Ariane 5 ME. France would not be opposed to this approach. Dordain explained that “it would be ideal to develop Ariane 5 ME in synergy with Ariane 6, together with another level. This, however, would be subject to tough budgetary restrictions and is based on the assumption that we have the industrial capacity to go ahead with both of them.”
The spokesman explained that the future of Ariane 5 was still a point pending on the ministerial conference agenda and that “this aspect is not yet completely in the bag” (our translation throughout). An Ariane 5 ME launcher would therefore allow for a compromise to be reached between the French and German positions. (MD/transl.fl)