L’avenir des programmes européens de recherche spatiale

Abstract

European space research carried out by ESA, the European Space Agency, has enabled Europe to reclaim the leading positions it had conceded to the USA. But an eventual return to the situation that prevailed in the sixties, when European space research was totally dependent on US planning and technologies is to be feared. Actually, Europe is only spending a quarter of the amount NASA devotes to its space activities. A new approach is required if there is to be any hope of preserving the achievements of almost 40 years of efforts, which isstarting to bear fruit. Halt the budget erosion, improve the , methods of management and the execution of missions, start researches in ‘high tech’, avoid the dispersal of technical and scientific activities, coordinate national efforts with those of ESA: these necessary measures, taken as soon as possible, would allow Europe to keep its rank of a scientific, technological and cultural force.