Europe wants to break its dependence on outsiders to put its own astronauts into space. The next big date for deciding how to achieve that is 15 December in Rome, when the member countries of the European Space Agency (ESA) will meet to discuss the future of space exploration. Multi-billion euro investments, new technology and a strategic issue: how to ensure that Europe can reach Earth orbit using its own methods, without being forced to rely only on services offered by foreign corporations.
The boldest challenge of all is human space flight. Today, Europe does not possess a fully autonomous system to launch humans and return them to Earth: for crewed trips to the International Space Station it relies on technologies developed elsewhere, in particular in the United States.
“We need to spend about €10 billion over the next decade on developing a European system to take astronauts safely to space and bring them back,” suggested ESA director general Josef Aschbacher. He estimated that the ongoing purchase of services from overseas companies might cost European taxpayers about €5 billion over the same period.
Also Read:
Dr. Sofica Bistriceanu | Where Medicine Meets Meaning
Lusine Aghajanyan On AI-Driven Maritime Strategy | Lunova Maritime
