European ministers meeting at a two-day conference of the European Space Agency (ESA) have agreed to prioritise European satellite launchers over cheaper options in other countries, ESA officials told AFP on Tuesday.
The ministers adopted a five-year programme, which will cost about 8.255 billion euros (9.710 million dollars) and includes an Earth surveillance project that is focused on both security and the environment, they said.
The decisions prove "the will and the desire to take Europe further" in space research, an area that has become "strategic", Dutch Economy Minister Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, told the press.
The "European preference" will mean that the 17 member countries of ESA will give priority to launchers developed by the agency, such as the Ariane 5 and its smaller cousin Vega, which is expected to make its first flight at the end of 2007. Russia's Soyuz launcher is to be used as a medium-sized option when launched from the ESA centre in French Guyana from 2008-2009. The European Space Agency had been seeking to persuade member states to give preference to Europe-produced launchers, rather than cheaper alternatives in Russia and India, in order to support technology developed on the continent.