Josef Aschbacher, the head of the European Space Agency (ESA), has rejected the goal set by French President Emmanuel Macron that Europe must launch its own manned mission to the Moon within ten years. Speaking to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Saturday edition), Aschbacher stated that while it is possible to send European astronauts into space within a decade, the destination would initially be Low Earth Orbit-meaning a close-to-Earth orbit around a space station. He explained that this initial mission would serve as a precursor for a future trip to the Moon and beyond.
On a different note, Aschbacher highlighted the significant symbolic value of the successful rocket launch by Isar Aerospace, occurring right before the Space Summit in Paris. The Munich startup will receive an additional 200 million Euros for its ongoing development. From his perspective, the meeting in the French capital, which brought together around 2,000 participants from politics and business and is intended to boost Europe’s space ambitions, was a success. “Europe is now waking up,” he commented. He noted that while the US has historically invested five times more in space activities, more funds are now being made available in Europe to allow it to compete with the United States and China.
The ESA head advocated for clear international space rules, similar to those governing air traffic, a stance that the United States currently rejects. Although Aschbacher does not view the withdrawal of major industry players like Elon Musk’s Space X due to pressure from the White House as a sign of universal refusal, he feels cooperation between Europe and the US is functioning extremely well on a practical level.
Furthermore, Aschbacher detailed that the ESA is developing a “high-resolution satellite observation system” to counter the hybrid threat posed by Russia, which could help prevent incidents such as the one that occurred in Leipzig. He said that ideally, this system could provide an image from any point on the globe every 20 to 30 minutes, automatically detecting suspicious movements using artificial intelligence. He mentioned that 1.2 billion Euros have already been allocated to this program, although he cautioned that a fully operational system still requires time to build.
