PARIS: The European Union will plough more money into rocket launches, satellite communication and space exploration to preserve its often unsung successes in space and keep up with US and Chinese ambitions, its space chief said on Sunday.

Over the past decades, Europe has sought to build independent access to space from US and Russian pioneers to help its industry, with successes such as Ariane rockets or GPS-rival satnav Galileo.

But the recent emergence of US competitor SpaceX and its reusable rockets as well as China's rapid advances, including the first ever landing on the far side of the Moon last year, is giving new urgency to Europe's ambitions.

"Space is one of Europe's strong points, and we're giving ourselves the means to speed up," European Commissioner Thierry Breton, whose brief include the space sector, told Reuters in an interview.

Breton, the former French head of IT company Atos, said that for the first time, the EU budget will be used to support new technology to launch rockets, including reusable ones.