“The decisions taken here in Brussels will set the direction for the agency for the next five years and beyond,” said European Space Agency (ESA) director Antonio Rodota, following a meeting of ESA’s governing body with European science ministers in May.
The ministers agreed to keep the core budget of EURO 2112 million constant for the next four years and announced a top-up fund called “complementary science funding”, which is expected to average around EURO 10 million a year. The remaining 85% of ESA’s funding is provided by governments on an “à la carte” basis the governments subscribe to the schemes that interest them.
Following the Brussels meeting, ESA’s Scientific Policy Committee met in Berne to define the launch schedule of the major science missions up until the year 2007. The schedule comprises:
- 1999: XMM, an X-Ray telescope (see “Picture of the month”);
- 2000: Cluster II, to study plasmas in the Earth’s magnetosphere (March);
- 2001: Integral, a gamma-ray telescope with
a ground station in Geneva. (November
1998); - 2003: Rosetta, a mission to land on the comet Wirtanen, and Mars Express (October 1998);
- 2007: FIRST, a far-infrared telescope, and Planck, a microwave telescope (see “Planck and FIRST given go-ahead”).
The space agency’s contribution to the International Space Station was also confirmed. However, Hans Balsiger, outgoing chairman of the scientific policy committee, said that he had “hoped to gain more”. In particular, he is worried that budget constraints will limit ESA’s smaller missions, such as the SMART technology test missions that are planned for 2001.
One thing is certain: European industry will have a significant role to play. The science ministers emphasized the importance of transferring greater responsibility to industry and engaging in a wider range of partnerships.
