On Tuesday 28 January, the Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, and the Chair of ASD-eurospace, Marco Fuchs, called for greater funding for the European space sector at the 17th European Space Conference in Brussels.
Believing that the EU was at a “decisive turning point” and that it had to take “bold and decisive” measures if it wanted to maintain its lead in space, the Commissioner felt that public spending on space “was too low and also fragmented”. “This makes large, ambitious long-term projects very difficult”, he warned.
Mr Kubilius made it clear that he wanted to ensure that the next Multiannual Financial Framework matched Europe’s space ambitions, “for both civil and defence needs”, especially as “more space capabilities are needed for defence”.
According to the ESA Director General, in order to realise Europe’s space potential, there needs to be “a significant increase in funding, both at ESA and EU level”. No amount was mentioned.
Mr Aschbacher pointed out that Europe’s share of global public funding for space (around €12 billion) represented 11% of the world total and was falling, while the United States invested more than €65 billion and represented 64% of the world total. Europe’s share of global private investment is 16% (around €980 million), compared with 60% (around €3.6 billion) for the United States.
According to Mr Aschbacher, without a “significant” increase in funding at the ESA ministerial meeting in Bremen in November, “we risk losing our expertise, our companies, our talent, our autonomy and our innovative energy”.
He said that ESA and the EU should work hand in hand on these funding issues, a view shared by the Commissioner. “We must ensure that our investments support the same objectives. European investment, private investment, national investment or investment via the European Space Agency”, added Mr Kubilius.
In addition to public funding, which “is absolutely necessary and provides the framework for bold and attractive programmes, we need to attract funding from the private sector, such as venture capital companies, banks, business angels and private individuals”, added the Director General of the European Space Agency.
For his part, Marco Fuchs called for the development of a space industrial policy at European level in order to create a space industrial base. In his view, the economic situation in the sector is difficult, and in order to “keep [the space industry] “alive”, it would be necessary to create more institutional programmes. He also called for the rapid development of an industrial strategy for space that would tackle the problem of fragmented demand and supply.
Mr Kubilius acknowledged that for the EU to be a competitive space power, it needs a “strong, innovative and competitive” European space industry. He announced that the Commission would be proposing a European space law “that will create a single market for space”, which he believes will attract more private investment. “It will also give our industry the legal security it needs to grow and help develop new markets. This will set important standards in terms of safety, security and sustainability”, explained the Commissioner.
He added that the EU would launch a European space industrial strategy to support industry in research and innovation, to re-establish supply chains and strengthen export markets, to support the commercialisation of space and the take-up of space data and services.
Regarding autonomous access to space, “we need to say: ‘Buy European’. And we need to say: ‘Buy in bulk’”, said Mr Kubilius, adding that the industry needed clear orders. The Commissioner announced that, over the next two years, an aggregation platform would be set up to share information and support aggregation of the demand for launch services in Europe.
Leading the space revolution. In addition to funding, Mr Kubilius hoped that Europeans would become the “leaders of [the] space revolution”. “The future belongs to space. Whoever controls space controls the future”, he added.
Explaining that in 10 years’ time, the global space economy could triple in size, Mr Kubilius stated that he wanted the EU to be at the forefront of this “huge” space economy. But for that to happen, “we have to act”, otherwise “we risk falling behind”, he warned. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)