Russia and EU: spacial friends?

Date: 13/04/06

The equatorial rainforests of South America may seem an unlikely place to find the iconic Russian spacecraft Soyuz.

But from 2008 the family of launch vehicles that sent the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and the first satellite, Sputnik, into space, will be launched from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana.

For the European Space Agency (ESA) and others involved in the project this is something of a coup: the first launch of a Soyuz spacecraft in its 49-year history outside Russia or Kazakhstan.

The launch will be the culmination of almost ten years of deepening co-operation between the EU and Russia on all things stellar.

The ESA has spent millions of euros adapting facilities in French Guiana to accommodate Soyuz, including a custom-built launch facility.

For Russia, co-operation on Soyuz is a valuable source of funds and secures access to the world's most modern launch facility.

For the EU the potential benefits are both commercial and strategic.

Soyuz will join the ESA's workhorse craft Ariane and the Vega launcher which will be operational from 2007.

ArianeSpace, the outfit running commercial launches, is akin to an extraterrestrial DHL. It and the ESA hope Soyuz will fill the gap between Ariane, which is capable of heavy lifting, and the smaller and lighter Vega launch vehicle, bringing Europe closer to its aim in delivering commercial payloads "any mass, any time, any orbit". Already Spaceport and Ariane are big business, delivering into space everything from satellites for Mexican television to the Spanish ministry of defence's military telecommunications satellite.

In practical terms, Soyuz will make delivering medium-sized payloads of around two tonnes more cost-effective. While Ariane makes economic sense with six to seven Galileo-style satellites, Soyuz is cost-effective with only two.

Soyuz is also capable of sending humans into space, helping Europe bridge the gap until the next generation of launch vehicles arrives, expected sometime in 2020.

But despite good relations so far on Soyuz, according to one Commission official, the limits of effective EU-Russia co-operation may be fast approaching.

"Our relations with Russia have always been positive, the question is to have an assessment of the credibility of the level of ambition that they can support," the official said.

In other words, if Russia wants to take part in more advanced projects it has to pay its way.

"It has been a long time since they have carried out any scientific missions. However they have a lot of experience and a lot of know-how," said the official.

In 2001-03 some 25% of allocated funding failed to reach Russian space projects, but according to recent statements from the head of the Russian space agency, Anatoly Perminov, around 150 million euro in extra funding will be found for programmes this year, bringing the total to 670m euro.

By contrast, the European Space Agency's annual budget stands at around 3 billion euro.

Today the level of ambition is outlined in the 'four spaces' agreement between the EU and the Russians on economic and political co-operation, where space featured prominently.

Along with Soyuz, the deal agreed in May 2005 covered deeper co-operation on the EU's satellite navi- gation system Galileo and the Russian counterpart, GLONASS.

Also covered is the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme, where, according to the Commission, Russia and the EU have 'good interoperability'.

But limits for this co-operation may be found in political mistrust over the uses of such hi-tech observation systems.

As one Commission official put it, "it is important to explore any possibilities".

Article looks at co-operation between the European Union and Russia on space activities, in particular space launches.
Article is part of a European Voice Special Report, 'European Space Policy'.