Heading for a black hole?

Date: 13/04/06

A common European space policy is now running 18 months behind schedule, after the original target of producing a draft agreement by March 2005 came and went.

The EU constitution contained specific references to EU space activities but is now moribund and the third space Council in November left policy to one side and concentrated on deploying the new space monitoring project GMES.

Yet ministers agree that developing a joint space programme is vital to sustain Europe's position as a global player in both scientific space exploration and the more strategic and sensitive issue of Earth observation for security and environment purposes.

One of the reasons for slow progress on a common policy is that Europe already has a strong European Space Agency (ESA), which was launched in 1975 and which was responsible for creating the powerful launcher rocket Ariane as well as planetary missions such as Mars Express in 2003 and Venus Express, which went into orbit on Tuesday (11 April).

At the same time, national space agencies are well funded with a high level of expertise, though their focus can be completely different. In some member states, such as Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain and, to a lesser extent France, space policy is deeply tied to the defence possibilities that it can offer, while in others the priority is exploration.

And while investors are often happy to put their money into national projects, knowing that they will receive a proper return on their investment, the European Commission's job is to put companies in competition with one another.

As a result, co-ordinating the priorities of such powerful space actors has been difficult.

"It is urgent to have a space policy, but there are risks with a European approach," says one space expert. "We could end up with a weak policy that tries to please everyone and we could also see a phenomenon where nobody agrees and so space efforts become re-nationalised. That would be very dangerous for Europe."

Europe also needs to consider its future access to space, which depends on solid launch activity. Ariane is a powerful launcher, but it cannot be used for human spaceflight. Russia's launchers are suitable for human spaceflight but are not especially powerful and the US has grounded its manned space programme since the Columbia disaster in 2003.

The absence both of a perfect solution for exploring space and a hefty budget - Europe spends on space only a fifth of what the US spends - has led Europe to ask whether there is an international interest in developing a new transport system in collaboration with other nations.

Russia is currently studying its options for the technology it will use for next generation space activity, China last week announced its ambitious plans and the US has already said that it plans to send men to Mars by 2014.

If it is not to miss the boat, or spaceship, the EU must make a decision by the end of 2006 on those partnerships that will allow it to give a European dimension to space exploration and keep a sufficient level of autonomy in the future.

Introductory article to a European Voice Special Report on the 'European Space Policy'.