On Wednesday 13 July, Pierre Lionnet, economist and research director at Eurospace, lamented the lack of institutional support for the European space sector at a press briefing on the health of the European space industry.
“European institutional investment, i.e. the aggregate national budgets of the European Space Agency and the European Union, remains far below the efforts of other major powers”, said Lionnet. “European institutional support is thus five times less than American support”.
Indeed, the European institutional budget (the national and EU budgets) amounted to €9.9 billion in 2021, compared to around €70 billion across the Atlantic. Above all, European institutional demand has been declining for the past 10 years, while at the same time China has considerably increased its budgetary effort. In 2021, China put into orbit the equivalent of 180 tonnes, while Europe put into orbit less than... 10 tonnes.
“However, the European space sector remains very successful in exports and contributes positively to Europe's trade balance”, he added. For example, in terms of satellite trade, Europe has a surplus of $1.5 billion per year. Similarly, for launchers, the European surplus is $130 million per year.
Despite international competition, the European space sector is in good health, with a final turnover of €8.6 billion in 2021, according to Eurospace. The sector grew by 11% compared to the previous year, which was admittedly marked by disappointing results due to the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12765/12). Activity associated with European institutional programmes returned to its 2019 level.
However, commercial activity remains affected by a structurally downward market trend. The most affected sector is the launcher sector, hit by a slowdown in activity and in particular price competition from the American company Space X.
To consult the Eurospace data: https://aeur.eu/f/2ma (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)