France invests billions of euros in the space industry

PARIS, Sep 18 – PRIME. France plans to invest more than nine billion euros in the space industry over the next three years, said Prime Minister Elisabeth Born.

“In total, France is going to invest more than nine billion euros in the space industry over the next three years to (conduct) research and (develop) our space industry,” she said in her speech at the International Astronautical Congress.

According to Born, the development of the space industry plays an important role in the fight against climate change, as many changes are tracked using satellites. In addition, this industry is closely linked to the digital realm, as telephones, geolocation systems and the Internet depend on space activities.

The French Prime Minister also said that at the moment outer space is becoming a “field of confrontation” and the process of its militarization is underway. According to her, this is why Europe should use the achievements of the space industry in order to “preserve strategic autonomy in the field of assessing situations, making decisions and conducting operations”, and also to “protect the national interests” of the region.

Europe must maintain autonomy for access to space and not depend on other countries to launch rockets and satellites, Born said.

In addition, she noted the importance of multilateral cooperation within the European Union, bilateral cooperation between space powers and cooperation with space agencies.