Europe confessed to great dependence on Russia in space
Europe needs to invest more in astronautics, as it is currently experiencing a painful but necessary cessation of ties with Russia, CEO of the European Space Agency (ESA) Josef Aschbacher admitted at the World Satellite Business Week conference. This is reported by SpaceNews.
He recalled that Europe and Russia stopped cooperating on ExoMars programs and stopped launching Soyuz rockets from the Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana. “You understand, especially in Europe, how dependent we are on Russia in space,” Aschbacher said.
The ESA chief said he would push for a quarter increase in the agency’s budget, from the current 14.5 billion euros (for three years) to 18.7 billion. Aschbacher noted inflation in the EU and rising energy prices as factors that threaten the financial sustainability of ESA.
In August, the ESA allowed the use of U.S. SpaceX rockets as a replacement for Russian carriers of the Soyuz family.
In July, the ESA completely terminated cooperation with Roscosmos on the ExoMars-2022 program.
