In ten years, the global space economy could triple in size. Europe wants to remain at the forefront of this sector, but risks being left behind if words are not matched by action, said EU Commissioner for Space and Defence Andrius Kubilius.
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00:00How can Europe catch up in the space race?
00:10To do this, the European space sector will have to work hard to remain competitive with
00:15the U.S.
00:16In his inaugural address, U.S. President Donald Trump called for the U.S. to pursue its destiny
00:24into the stars and to plant the U.S. flag on Mars.
00:29The EU Commissioner for Defense and Space shared some of his ideas on Tuesday at the
00:34European Space Conference in Brussels.
00:41We are really very good in services like positioning with Galileo, we are very good in space observation
00:49with Copernicus, we shall be very good with satellite space communication, Iris Square.
00:59But we need to catch up with access to space and that is where we shall spend a lot of
01:08efforts really.
01:11The European space sector needs several elements to be competitive, according to the Director
01:16General of the European Space Agency.
01:18Talent, which Europe already has, public and private investments, and finally more speed
01:26and more simplicity.
01:28For the European Space Agency, Europe must build on its flagship programs, but also develop
01:33new projects.
01:35Should the continent be inspired by the collaboration in the U.S. between NASA and SpaceX of Elon
01:40Musk?
01:41We have decided that we want to be an anchor customer of major infrastructure in the future.
01:49For example, on new launchers, on new cargo return vehicles, where we will not develop
01:55the launcher from beginning to the end, but we will buy a launch service.
01:59We are launching the European Launcher Challenge actually this year, and to create new launcher
02:04companies that are at the beginning launching small satellites, that's exactly the same
02:09model that NASA applied to develop Falcon 9.
02:14The U.S. is the leading space power.
02:17It accounts for two-thirds of global investment in space.
02:21Europe is the third largest investor and accounts for 11% of the global space budget.
02:27In this race to the stars, the European Commissioner for Defense in Space and the European Space
02:32Agency hope that new funds will be allocated to the space sector through the next multi-annual
02:37financial framework, as the EU budget is renewed every seven years.