(Toulouse) Emmanuel Macron pleaded Wednesday in Toulouse in favor of a sovereign Europe in space, a “common good” which must make “dream”, and pushed European leaders to position themselves on manned flights to the Moon and March.
Posted at 1:23 p.m.
On an increasingly competitive global chessboard, Europe must have its own “mastery” of space if it wants to acquire technological, industrial, military and scientific sovereignty, said the president during an “informal” meeting European Ministers responsible for Space and ESA (European Space Agency), within the framework of the French Presidency of the European Union.
Europe must in particular “urgently” take its “destiny in hand” in the field of satellite constellations, if it wants to keep control of its telecommunications, estimated Emmanuel Macron, quasi-candidate for the presidential election in April.
Faced with the private constellations Starlink of Elon Musk (42,000 satellites planned) or Kuiper of Jeff Bezos (3200 satellites), Oneweb carried by the British government (650 satellites), the challenge is to launch before the orbits and frequencies are too crowded.
The European constellation, whose first satellites are to be operational in 2024, must provide an EU-specific internet network and commercial communications coverage across the EU and Africa.
“We have a political agreement” to deploy an “independent constellation”, welcomed on the sidelines of the meeting the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, according to whom the aspects of its financing will be settled later.
“Commodification”
But Europe must also invest in “the part of the dream” that space represents, beyond Earth’s orbit, continued the Head of State. “For us Europeans, the viable space model is not that of exploitation, of increasing the number of space tourists”, but that of “a common good which must be useful to all”, he said. -he argues, opposing his vision to a “commodification of space”.
With this in mind, Europe must, according to him, “anticipate a position for a first international human mission to Mars, probably at the end of the next decade”.
“ESA has already identified avenues for space science and human spaceflight, and I propose that we can support this momentum by working […] by next summer to formulate proposals on our European ambitions in terms of exploration and human spaceflight,” said the President.
The objective is “to clarify the strategic decisions” which, according to him, will have to be taken in November, during a ministerial meeting of the ESA which will bring together its 22 Member States in Paris.
“What should be the respective share of manned and robotic flights, especially for flights to the Moon or Mars? he wondered.
“Are we aiming for cooperation in the light of the ISS (the international space station) or strategic autonomy in this area? “, added Mr. Macron, refraining from taking a position.
Faced with the rush for the Moon and the emergence of private players in manned flight, the European space community is campaigning for Europe to acquire its own means to send astronauts into space, without depending on a barter used so far with the Russians or the Americans.
“The time has come for a European ambition for space”, pleaded Josef Aschbacher, the Director General of ESA, which has 22 Member States, on Wednesday at the end of the ESA Ministerial Council also meeting in Toulouse.
The ESA has announced the creation of a “high-level advisory group” on “human space exploration for Europe”, which will have to deliver initial conclusions at the ministerial meeting in November.
This group will bring together non-industrial experts (historians, economists, philosophers, etc.) to “help us make the right decision”, the one that “will shape what Europe will look like in the decade to come”, welcomed Josef Aschbacher.
Its ambition for human spaceflight has received the backing of 45 European astronauts, who on Wednesday called on EU leaders in a manifesto to take an “urgent” decision to “remain in the leading ranks of space nations shaping the world”. future of this planet, or fall behind in the role of junior partner for decades to come”.
“Together, in solidarity with our European values, we can. Time to set sail,” Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano tweeted.