Germany is leading the meeting of the ESA Ministerial Council on the future of European space travel. Economy Minister Habeck emphasizes the great importance of space.
European space agency Esa is discussing new missions and a higher budget at the Cabinet meeting in Paris. During the meeting, Germany will take over the leadership of the Esa Council from France for the next three years.
Federal Minister of Economy Robert Habeck (The Greens) attends the conference. ZDFtoday said it was an “important meeting” and stressed the importance of space travel and European sovereignty when dealing with satellites for communications security:
Habeck: Sustainability in space matters
Habeck continued, saying it’s important to take and evaluate climate data from space: “Climate data means not only observing, but also recognizing, for example, where the emitters are in the world, so we can use sustainability from space for climate policy on planet Earth.”
Additionally, Habeck said it’s important not to increasingly fill space with “space junk”, but rather “even to develop techniques to bring existing space junk back out of orbit.” Also, smaller companies should be able to participate in the “space industry” better than before.
In an interview with ZDFheute, Robert Habeck explains how much Germany wants to invest in space travel in the future:
ZDFtoday: Mr. Habeck, would you like to deposit some more money? Is Germany going one step further to progress?
robert Habeck: Yes it is. Of course, the budget negotiations in Germany have just been completed. But we are talking about a long period and then I think that the gap will definitely close. In any case, we won’t let projects fail because we didn’t go that far in budget negotiations. This includes launch projects for the moon, for example.
ZDFtoday: How important is it to you that manned space travel continues to progress in Europe? And also in Germany – are there German astronauts who continue to fly to the ISS and maybe to the moon?
Habeck: It should always be goal-oriented, so we should always know what we are doing in space, what strategy we are following.
However, it is of course important for Europe and Germany in Europe that we play a role in the strategically defined sectors of sustainability, security and sovereignty. That we are there and that we are not only there, but also, to some extent, starring. And the lead role also means supporting that role with astronauts.
Interview by Susanne Freitag.
Source: ZDF
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