Europe secures record space budget

BREMEN:

The European Space Agency announced Thursday it had secured a record budget of 22.1 billion euros to fund its programmes for the next three years, as the continent seeks greater independence in space.

The ESA also approved a plan to bolster security and defence cooperation and laid out future plans for scientific space missions at a ministerial council meeting in the German city of Bremen. The agency's 23 member states committed five billion euros more than 2022's budget, with the total representing almost all of the 22.2-billion-euro ($25.7 billion) funding sought by the agency.

"This has never happened before," ESA director general Josef Aschbacher told the meeting. "You have written history."

Ahead of the meeting, experts had expected a budget of around 20 billion euros.

The new pledges demonstrate that space is an "economic sector that is growing very fast," Aschbacher emphasised.

"It is also more and more important for security and defence, and it is a domain where Europe has to catch up," he added