Wed, Dec 22, 2004
Budget Almost Tripled
The countries participating in the
Preparatory European Space Exploration Program "Aurora" have
recently confirmed and increased their contributions.
This preparatory phase has attracted additional contributions
for the period 2005-2006. Sweden has now joined the program. The
subscribed envelope has nearly tripled, from the original
€14.3m to around €41.5m currently.
Italy has confirmed its interest and ambitions in space
exploration by further increasing its participation. The United
Kingdom will also contribute additional money. France, the
third-largest contributor to the program, is followed by Belgium,
Spain and The Netherlands. Other participants are Austria,
Switzerland and Portugal. Canada, a Cooperating State, also
confirmed an increased contribution.
On 15 December, the ESA Council approved the Agency’s
budgets for 2005, including the budget for "Aurora". These
developments enable major industrial activities to continue and
will enable the work on preparing the full program proposal to move
ahead in line with original plans.
Invitations to tender for industrial contracts will be issued
starting next February. These include work for the ExoMars mission
and the Mars Sample Return mission. Other activities will cover
in-orbit assembly, rendezvous and docking, habitation and
life-support systems plus a broad range of technology development
work. Industry will also be called upon to contribute to the
definition of a European Space Exploration strategy and
architecture.
The preparatory phase of the "Aurora" Exploration Program will
culminate in a full program proposal, which will be submitted to
the next ESA Council meeting at ministerial level, currently
scheduled for end-2005.
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