In Bremen on Thursday at the time of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ministerial conference assessment, France probably had a bad migraine. At issue is the unsolvable equation for the Minister responsible for Space, Philippe Baptiste: how to positively increase the increase in France’s contribution to the ESA (from 3.2 billion euros between 2023-2025 to 3.6 billion between 2026-2028, as revealed by La Tribune) while at the same time Germany will blow things up by providing 5 billion euros and Italy (4 billion) could steal the second place occupied by France since two ministerial conferences (Seville in 2019 and Paris in 2022).
It seems like a long time ago when France was the leading country without rivals in the space sector in Europe. “We will probably invest less than Germany. That’s true”we confirmed it in the minister’s entourage. France currently takes this position while explaining that it funds a large number of projects within a national framework through the CNES, unlike Germany. In Bremen, he will also defend with panache “European preference”. This will be one of the challenges of this space conference for France, which is still far from victory…, especially in Germany, which is often influenced by its transatlantic tropicalism.
Small margin maneuver
Does France have room for financial maneuver to remain nimble in the face of possible pitfalls during the final negotiations (Wednesday and Thursday) that will take place behind closed doors in Bremen? ESA may need to use ESA’s unspent financial balances for ongoing programs.
But he would do it carefully. “The limit of gaming cash flow is that it is not immune to the acceleration of the ESA program. Whatever happens, it will ultimately have to pay no matter what.”we explained to La Tribune. Obviously, Philippe Baptiste will not take risks that could endanger France financially at some point.
1.7 billion for the launcher
With this contribution of 3.6 billion euros, France has made its choice. And once again they decided to finance space access in a big way by investing almost half of the contribution. Or about 1.7 billion euros for Ariane 6, Guiana Space Center (CSG) and Europe’s future launcher, selected by ESA (European Launcher Challenge). “No launcher, no spacewe remind La Tribune. It’s that simple”. It will also invest 850 million euros in navigation programs and programs dedicated to science (mandatory programs).
Apart from that, this country will also focus more on its Earth observation program by funding a total of 520 million euros, especially by observing the instruments of two Copernicus satellites in the future. In particular, they will pay a “small ticket” in the ERS (European Resilience from Space) program, to monitor what is happening there. The project could be the start of a large-scale program, an Earth observation constellation launched by the European Commission.
In telecommunications, France will invest little while waiting for the IRIS² constellation. They plan to finance around 240 million euros as well as around one hundred million euros for space security and critical technologies. Finally, France has reserved a total of around 400 million euros for NewSpace in all programs it wishes to finance under ESA.
