Members of the European Space Agency (ESA) have approved a three-year budget of 22.1 billion euros, including security and defense, a major new feature for the organization, which has so far focused exclusively on the peaceful use of space, writes Politico.
In late November, a resolution adopted by the organization’s 23 member states said that ESA’s intergovernmental guidelines provide opportunities and tools to create space technologies and systems for defense and security. The agency called the move a historic change.
The war in Ukraine has shown how important space resources are, both for collecting intelligence and providing communications. Europe also wants to reduce its dependence on US companies, such as billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
One example of ESA’s new approach is a dual-use Earth observation project that can be used for both civilian and military needs. The agency’s director general, Josef Aschbacher, told reporters that
Poland played a major role in the changes in ESA’s operations,
calling on the agency to get involved in defense issues. Warsaw is currently discussing with ESA the possibility of opening a new agency center in Poland that would work specifically on defense issues.
The budget includes 3.4 billion euros for an Earth observation project, 2.1 billion euros for secure communications, and 900 million euros to develop space rocket launch systems. The budget for the previous three years was 17 billion euros. The largest contributors to the agency’s budget are Germany, France, and Italy.
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