spacetoday.net: ESA secures 16.9 billion euros for next three years

Posted: Sat, Nov 26, 2022, 8:29 AM ET (1329 GMT)
ESA

European Space Agency member states have agreed to commit 16.9 billion euros ($17.5 billion) to agency programs over the next three years, ESA leadership announced at a briefing in Paris Wednesday at the end of the two-day ministerial meeting. The figure is short of the roughly 18.5 billion euros ESA sought going into the meeting, but a significant increase over 2019. Members funded agency priorities that included revamping the ExoMars mission for a 2028 launch, starting work on a new series of lunar cargo landers, and extending participation in the International Space Station to 2030. Some programs whose funding fell short of expectations may need to revise their plans in the coming months, the agency's director general said, but no programs were cut entirely.