“20 years ago, nobody would have ever imagined the dimension of what the internet brings today for daily life and I think space is in a similar situation,” Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, told The Big Question.
Did you know, the average European pays around €10 in taxes every year towards the budget of the European Space Agency (ESA)?
Although that might seem like a bargain, you might still be wondering what you get in return. Particularly when in recent years, the image of space travel is often associated with the private billionaire’s boys club, consisting of Musk, Bezos and Branson.
In this episode of The Big Question, Dr. Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, joins Hannah Brown to discuss the economic benefits we feel on Earth, from their work in space.
Is the space industry more than a billionaire’s boys club?
The ESA budget is €8 billion per year, a meagre figure in comparison to NASA’s 25 billion and just over the same figure again in the US’ Space Force coffre.
Whilst the budget may be relatively modest, the output is pretty mighty.
In collaboration with the European Commission, ESA has two flagship programmes, Galileo and Copernicus, that deliver “the most accurate signal for navigation worldwide” and “the best Earth observation program in the world” respectively.
To put their 2024 work into headlines, ESA launched a record number of satellites (13), had the inaugural flight of Ariane 6, returned VEGA-C to service and trained five new career astronauts.
Rockets are all well and cool but is there an economic value of it all to Europe?
“One euro invested in space infrastructure or space programs brings about five euros back to the economy,” Josef proudly stated.
That return on investment comes in the shape of job creation, the engagement of private businesses providing services to ESA and technological and medical research and development which can be commercialised.
As of 1 January, ESA has 23 member states with Slovenia being the most recent to join the ranks.
Each member state sees benefits proportionate to their investment, which creates job opportunities in the industry for their nationals.
What is Vigil and is it really worth the cost?
Earth observation and weather forecasting data produced from ESA’s satellites and programmes have a considerable money-saving impact on Europe.
“The Arctic weather satellite, which we have just launched last year. There’s a multiplying factor of about 50.
“That means, one euro invested in this Arctic weather satellite constellation, at the moment with one satellite but there’s a future constellation that can be built up, can bring economic values 50 times higher than the investment.”
A key mission ESA is currently working on, with hopes to launch in 2031 is Vigil.
Vigil will be one of two satellites, linked with a NASA counterpart, which will be able to monitor and predict solar flares.
A solar flare is an intense burst of electromagnetic radiation from the sun which can interfere with vital satellites in space, as well as electrical grids on Earth.
“The cost of such a satellite is in the order of a few hundred million which is certainly an investment to be made but if you can imagine of how much you can save by protecting infrastructure on the ground and therefore minimising damage that can happen through a solar eruption, then there’s a multiple factor in between,” Josef told Euronews.
He cited a recent example where a solar storm knocked tens of recently launched satellites out of orbit.
“Several tens of satellites cost much more money than one satellite necessary in order to monitor such a solar storm and therefore be well prepared.”
Why is it important for ESA to be publicly funded?
As well as the money saving and economic benefits of ESA’s work, there’s the more long-term and vitally important inspiration aspect of the space industry.
More than ever, economies need more and more young people to be inspired to work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Following the historic landing on the moon by the Apollo 11 crew in 1969, there was a rise in STEM PHDs and then 20 years later the IT industry boomed.
“If you have a cool space program, young people tend to work there and not leave the country or leave the continent,” Josef added.
Thomas Pesquet has recently been named the 5th most popular French person in history, something ESA hopes will inspire the next generation of astronauts.
The Big Questionis a series from Euronews Business where we sit down with industry leaders and experts to discuss some of the most important topics on today’s agenda.
Watch the video above for the full conversation with the Director General of the European Space Agency.
