WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency is putting the final touches on a package of programs worth 22 billion euros ($25.6 billion) for next month’s ministerial conference, despite U.S. budget uncertainty and the removal of one mission from consideration.
At an Oct. 23 briefing after a meeting of the ESA Council, agency leaders said they had nearly completed the package of programs for the next three years that will be proposed to member states at the ministerial conference Nov. 26-27 in Bremen, Germany.
“The overall spirit of all the member states was extremely constructive and positive,” Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s director general, said of the council discussions. “We still have a lot of work to do. This is normal in the final stretch of preparing the ministerial package.”
He did not go into details but said the overall size of the three-year package has remained “more or less unchanged” at about 22 billion euros. “Not everything is resolved yet,” he said, noting another council meeting is planned for Nov. 7 to finalize open issues.
One change is that ESA has dropped an Earth science mission previously included in the package. Aschbacher said ESA removed the Traceable Radiometry Underpinning Terrestrial- and Helio-Studies, or TRUTHS, mission from consideration for “affordability reasons.” TRUTHS was designed to calibrate climate models by precisely measuring both incoming and reflected solar radiation.
The United Kingdom, which had been the leading backer of TRUTHS, reportedly withdrew its support for the mission after a recent spending review.
There are also uncertainties about NASA funding for science and exploration projects ESA is participating in and seeking support for at the ministerial. NASA’s fiscal 2026 budget request, released in May, proposed canceling the lunar Gateway and ending Orion after Artemis 3, as well as canceling science missions such as Mars Sample Return (MSR) and NASA’s contributions to the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover.
In June, Aschbacher said he hoped a final NASA budget would be completed before the ministerial. That is now almost certain not to happen, although House and Senate spending bills would override many of the proposed cuts. A budget reconciliation bill enacted in July also provided funding for Gateway and additional Orion missions.
“We all know very well that budget decisions have yet to be made in the United States. We are eagerly awaiting those,” Aschbacher said. “It’s difficult to speculate what those decisions will be.”
He said that for Gateway and the Orion service module, ESA is pressing ahead. However, he noted that ESA considers it unlikely that NASA will continue MSR, for which ESA is developing the Earth Return Orbiter to bring the sample container back to Earth. “We are preparing backup solutions” that could convert the orbiter into a standalone Mars mission, he said.
He added that he expects NASA to continue supporting the Rosalind Franklin rover, which includes providing braking thrusters for the lander, radioisotope heating units and a launch. The Senate’s appropriations bill includes funding for those contributions, but the House version does not explicitly mention them.
ESA also faces internal funding challenges. France, one of ESA’s largest contributors, has not finalized its budget amid government upheaval. “France is really making every effort to find funding,” Aschbacher said. “There is no lack of energy and dedication to find good solutions. There’s still five weeks to go.”
He said ESA subjected proposed projects to independent reviews by the agency’s inspector general to identify potential programmatic or budget issues. Those reviews resulted in about 400 recommendations that have all been implemented ahead of the ministerial.
However, Aschbacher said it is unlikely that all projects will be funded at their desired levels. “This is my proposal as director general, which is put on the table for ministers to subscribe,” he said. “Of course, the ministers subscribe as they feel fit.”
Experience from past ministerials, he said, shows that about 93% to 95% of the proposed package is typically funded. “It is normal that never 100% of a proposal of a director general is subscribed.”
Thoughts on Project Bromo
The briefing took place hours after Airbus, Leonardo and Thales announced an agreement to combine their space businesses into a joint venture codenamed Project Bromo. The new company would employ about 25,000 people and generate 6.5 billion euros in annual revenue, pending regulatory approval expected to take up to two years.
The joint venture has implications for ESA. Much of Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space, two of ESA’s largest contractors, would be combined in the joint venture. That could reduce competition on future ESA procurements.
“We have been reflecting on this,” Aschbacher said when asked for the agency’s view of the joint venture, which has been in negotiations since last year. “It is clear that this will have an impact.”
He said ESA plans to conduct a detailed assessment of the joint venture and its implications for the agency, but not until after the ministerial conference.
He downplayed the potential loss of competition. “It’s not a matter of concern. ESA has, over 50 years, always been adapting to changes in the ecosystem,” he said. “We will make sure that our European industry at large — big, small and medium-sized companies — will succeed, and we will take measures to help them succeed.”
“Am I worried? No, I’m not worried,” he said. “I think it’s very good news. It’s interesting news. We see new challenges coming, and we will tackle them head-on and make sure that Europe becomes even stronger than before.”
