WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency (ESA) on March 17 agreed to commit Europe to continue participating in the international space station through 2020, and to paying 240 million euros ($318 million) over two years to support the Arianespace commercial launch consortium and the Ariane 5 heavy-lift rocket, European government and industry officials said.
The 10 Esa nations that subscribe to the station project approved a 550m-euro sum at the Paris gathering to supplement the 1.4bn-euro package passed at the Ministerial Council in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2008.This extra money will cover commitments until the next Ministerial at the end of 2012, when member states will then initiate a 2bn-euro arrangement to take European participation at the ISS through to 2020. By the end of the decade, it is expected Europe will have spent about 9bn euros over the full 25 years of the project.The 2020 date, however, is a minimum extension at the moment. Engineers believe much of the infrastructure in orbit will be serviceable well beyond that time. Most of the living and working space on the non-Russian side of the station has been fabricated in Europe and its engineers believe their modules should still be fit for purpose in 2028.
Now if they can only ensure the ISS is fully supported, and acheive what it was set out to do.