“Europe remains fragile” in the field of space exploration, says Macron

“ Pwe need to be strong and that goes through our space Europe, which is still fragile and we must accelerate,” said Emmanuel Macron at the International Space Summit, which brings together around ten Heads of State and Government in Paris.

The French President argued that the model of the United States in the aerospace sector should be followed and proposed a European mechanism for institutional launches to address the needs of the European Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Member States.

“ The United States was able to build this to structure its offer. This is the key if we want to achieve the right volume and ensure it (...). Europe cannot invest billions in its rockets and then buy its drops,” he noted.

“ If we do not develop our [European] competitiveness, we will have no chance,” Macron warned.

The French President stated that Europe must develop its own manned flights and fully assume the “European preference” in space.

“Europe must fly with its own crews! (...) We want Europe to affirm its ambition on manned flights,” he said.

“ I want to see, in two years’ time, the first European cargo pod, the Nyx, join the International Space Station (EIS); in five years’ time, the first European lunar module Argonaut to land on the surface of the Moon; and in ten years’ time, the first European manned capsule to fly from Kourou [city in French Guiana, where a space center is located] with European astronauts and other nations on board,” he added.

European sovereignty was one of the issues addressed by the French President.

“ In order to have real technological independence and to be able to choose our partners in each of the critical capacities, Europe must be among the world’s leading actors, especially in communication and the AI [artificial intelligence],” he said.

Macron advocated shared space governance, with a regulation of the “high challenges” and a Europe that becomes one of the “main global protagonists” of the sector.

“ Despite the 1967 treaty, outer space remains the only great global common good that is not subject to a regulation that meets the challenges (...). Shared governance is needed to respond to these challenges,” added the French Head of State.

On Wednesday, ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher estimated the investment, over 10 years, that Europe needs to achieve space independence by EUR 10 billion.

“ Will we be passengers or pilots?” asked Aschbacher in a speech to European space ministers meeting at the Paris Summit. If Europe plays a decisive role in space exploration, ESA estimated that it should invest around EUR 1 billion per year for a decade.

Failure to make this bet would also cost about EUR 5 billion in ten years, mainly to purchase flights from foreign suppliers and subject to authorisation to operate outside European control, said Aschbacher.

“Reliance has a cost. Europe will not start from scratch”, but the distance from world leaders in the space sector “is increasing, both financially and technologically,” he warned.