Polish perspective on ESA budget in 2022.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has published its budget for 2022. What is the total amount of this budget? What will it be spent on? What is the Polish contribution to this year’s ESA budget?
ESA is an European organization that enables the joint development of space technologies and satellite applications for terrestrial applications. Since 1974, ESA has also carried out a number of space missions outside the immediate vicinity of our planet. At the moment, the agency consists of twenty-two Member States. Poland is the twentieth full member of ESA since November 19, 2012. After our country, Hungary and Estonia also joined ESA. In addition, Canada, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia cooperate closely with ESA – the latter three countries will join the Agency in the coming years.
For 2022, the total ESA budget has been set at EUR 7.15 billion. It is EUR 660 million more than in 2021 and EUR 470 million more than in 2020. The contribution comes from the Member States, most of which come from France (EUR 1.178 billion) and Germany (EUR 1.018 billion). In addition, a large “additional” part of the premium is also paid by the European Union (EU).
What is the Polish contribution to the ESA? In 2022, it is EUR 44.8 million. This represents less than 1 percent of the ESA Member States’ contribution. Since Poland’s accession to the ESA, the contribution has increased from EUR 28.9 million to EUR 44.8 million. This is generally considered as a very low contribution given the size of Polish economy and a number of entities interested in R&D in space sector. For many years, the Polish space industry has indicated that it is necessary to significantly increase the contribution to the ESA.
It is worth mentioning that the Czech Republic now has a higher contribution to the ESA than Poland and it is EUR 45.4 million in 2022. In 2013, the Czech contribution to the ESA was around half that of Poland (then it amounted to EUR 13.7 million).
Looking forward – ESA Ministerial Council
In November 2022, the ESA Ministerial Council will be held in Paris. It is an important event during which strategic decisions will be made as to the directions of ESA development in the coming years. One of the decisions will certainly be the continued participation of Europe in the Artemis program – including the possible first steps by a European or a European on the surface of the Moon. Another important decision will certainly be the extension of Europe’s participation in the ISS program until 2030. Finally, a question may arise about the possibility of building a European crewed spacecraft.
As of early 2022, the Polish government is asking various entities in the country about their interest in ESA programmes and their possible participation. This is one of sources of information, on which the governmental decision about Polish contribution to ESA will be based. However, it is quite possible that only minor increase of contribution to ESA will be decided.
(KK)
