European astronauts call on politicians to invest in their own crew capsules
A group of European astronauts is calling on European politicians to develop their own technology to launch people. The astronauts want ESA to no longer have to buy seats from other countries or companies, but to be able to carry out such missions itself.
The plea comes from the Association of Space Explorers. That is the interest group of all 45 European astronauts who are now active, but also older space travelers. The ASE calls on European leaders in a manifesto to work on a way to carry out self-manned flights. Currently, the European space agency ESA does have its own rockets such as the Ariane 5 and Vega, but to send astronauts into space, the space agency has to knock on the door of Russia or companies such as SpaceX. The European astronauts believe that the time has come for the continent to become more independent in this area. The astronauts do not mention concrete plans; it mainly concerns an appeal to politicians to invest in that option.
The astronauts believe that that moment has precisely come. “After Covid, Europe needs connecting dreams again to keep talent within Europe, to seize economic opportunities and to make itself leading again among technologically advanced countries,” they write in the manifesto. “European leaders must urgently decide whether Europe will accelerate its ambitions and stay at the forefront of space exploration countries, or whether it will fall behind and become a junior partner for decades to come.”
The group of astronauts warns that if Europe does not act, the continent could miss out on great opportunities and fail to meet its own goals, as it would become dependent on other countries for the transport of astronauts. “We then become paying customers in a weak position. We then repeat the mistakes we have made in the past at other strategic points,” the astronauts write, although they do not mention concrete examples. At the beginning of the century, Europe did work on its own manned capsule, the Crew Space Transportation System, but it never got beyond the drawing board.
Although developing such a capsule would cost a lot of money, the astronauts believe that there is also a great opportunity for Europe. They refer to American initiatives in which NASA pays companies money for the development of capsules. “Recent private sector interest shows that such a program can also accelerate the economy and be affordable for Europe.” The astronauts also point out that although Europe’s total GDP is as high as America’s, investments in space exploration are only a tenth of NASA’s budget.