In the space of a week two announcements highlighted the different attitudes of European government to investing in the space industry. As France sought to increase its investment in the European Space Agency (ESA), Germany was questioning the Galileo…
In the space of a week two announcements highlighted the different attitudes of European government to investing in the space industry. As France sought to increase its investment in the European Space Agency (ESA), Germany was questioning the Galileo programmes budget, calling for new cuts.
The French government and the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) signed a 2011-2015 contract that gives an extra ?70m to the European Space Agency (ESA), starting next year.
France is also increasing its funding for CNES’s multilateral programme by ?15m, which will reach ?761m in 2011. In a statement, the Research Ministry explained that this increase was allowing France and the CNES to pay off their debt to ESA by 2015.
The debt occurred following a launch failure of Ariane 5 in 2002.
The statement also said that the budget boost would be used to promote the EU’s role in the space sector, with a notable focus on Galileo satellite navigation system and on the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme.
In the meantime, according to reports, Germany’s Transport Ministry called for the European Commission to cut Galileo’s cost.
The original budget for Galileo was ?2.5bn, but years of delays and soaring costs have seen it become a bugbear for Europe. The project cost has now been set at ?3.4bn and some fear it could go over ?5bn.
According to the Financial Times Deutschland citing a German government report, the total Galileo cost may even amount to more than ?20bn in the next 20 years.
Antonio Tajani, European industry commissioner, was quick to point out in a conference call that the price objective for Galileo remained at ?3.4bn.
According to the EU, Galileo will begin operating in 2014 with an initial constellation of 18 satellites, as an alternative to the US Global Positioning System (GPS) network.
This will allow preliminary provision for enhanced GPS, search and rescue services, and an encrypted public regulated service for authorities. The fully deployed system will consist of 30 satellites.
Concerns over Galileo’s total cost come as a German-Italian joint venture, SpaceOpal, just won a ?194m contract for the operations of the space and ground infrastructure. SpaceOpal comprises Italian space systems services company Telespazio and German firm Gfr, which was set up by the German space agency DLR to offer services to Galileo.
“Galileo is becoming a reality. Europe will have its own independent satellite navigation system capable of high precision and reliability. We are fully committed to the roll-out of the system,” Tajani said during the conference call.
This is the fourth contract awarded so far with two more to come in early 2011 for the completion of the ground mission infrastructure and the ground control infrastructure, according to a European Commission statement.
The first three contracts, in January 2010, were aimed at ensuring system engineering support, satellites and launchers.
