Belgium pledges 1.1 billion euros to ESA as agency secures record budget

The 23 member states of the European Space Agency (ESA) will contribute 22.1 euros billion over the coming years, ESA director general Josef Aschbacher announced on Thursday at the ESA Council of Ministers meeting in Bremen. Over 1.1 billion euros of that amount will come from Belgium.

At the previous ministerial council in 2022, member states had pledged 16.9 billion euros to the ESA. The agency had warned ahead of this week’s meeting that Europe risks falling behind in the global space race if its members would not raise their investments.

Belgium will contribute 1.109 billion euros over the next five years, Belgian Science minister Vanessa Matz confirmed. More than a quarter of Belgium’s contribution will go to programmes aimed at improving space resilience. Funding will be used for the development of secure telecommunications satellites and the further expansion of a robust, independent European navigation system to complement Galileo.

Belgium is also allocating 114 million euros to the design and development of European launchers, and 113 million euros to Earth observation programmes, including the continued development of the European Copernicus satellites. Another 205 million euros will be directed to ESA scientific programmes, while 110 million euros will support space exploration.

ESA launches new satellite to improve weather forecasting and climate analysis

The European Space Agency and EUMETSAT – the operator of European weather satellites – will launch a new-generation weather satellite into space...

belganewsagency.eu

Liégeois’ mission delayed

The ESA also confirmed Raphaël Liégeois’ mission to the ISS this week. While the Belgian astronaut is officially scheduled to depart before the end of 2026, RTBF reports that his mission is delayed by at least six months, if not a year.

This postponement is thought to be due to operational reasons on the American side, according to Frank De Winne, former Belgian astronaut and director of ESA's Training Centre in Cologne. Budget cutbacks to NASA by the Trump administration are further pressuring the operation of ISS missions, RTBF writes.

But delays are an unavoidable part of an astronaut's jobs, De Winne stressed. Despite the postponements, the director reiterated that Raphaël Liégeois will go into space and become Belgium's third astronaut before 2030, when the ISS is scheduled to be deorbited.

^{PHOTO © FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP}

Related news

Belgian researcher secures NASA collaboration on astronaut brain study

Belgian scientist Floris Wuyts from the University of Antwerp has secured a new partnership with NASA, the US space agency, according to Belgium’s...

belganewsagency.eu