The European Space Agency has voted to withhold $175m of the money it had planned to make available for the International Space Station until NASA decides on possible cutbacks.
The action is unlikely to hamper development of the station in the short term but sends a clear message to NASA. An ESA spokesman says: 鈥淲e are sending a sign saying we want to commit, but we want you to commit too.鈥�
NASA faces a $4.5 billion budget overrun on the ISS and was severely criticised over its financial management in a recent independent report. This could lead to budget cuts, including scaling back on ISS construction.
Advertisement
If this means the current crew of three cannot be expanded to the original target of seven, the number of European astronauts that travel to the outpost and the scientific research performed there would be limited.
Good science
鈥淲e have invested money into doing science aboard the ISS and with only three astronauts aboard permanently, good science cannot really be done,鈥� the ESA spokesman says.
Representatives from Europe鈥檚 space partners agreed at a meeting held in Edinburgh to withhold about $175m from its total five-year budget of $747m for the ISS until it comes to an agreement with NASA.
The spokesman adds that all international partners must agree any planned cuts. The Russian Aviation and Space Agency has already said that it will re-evaluate its contribution to the ISS in light of any NASA budget cuts.
A NASA advisory council will recommend possible actions to its new chief, Sean O鈥橩eefe, in December but NASA has already promised to respect all international agreements on the ISS. However, these do not require increasing the station鈥檚 crew.
鈥淲e are going to have to work closely with ESA to establish a mutually acceptable agreement,鈥� says a NASA spokeswoman. She adds that all space station partners were invited to present evidence on how possible budget cuts could affect them during the creation of the report.
Paul Murdin, at the British National Space Centre, points out that contracts for space projects are often stronger on funding commitments than on specified achievements: 鈥淭he difficulty with a lot of space agreements is they are about what you put in and not what you get out.鈥�
Heavy load
At the Edinburgh meeting, ESA also agreed to provide a total of $7bn for space programs over the next five years.
This money will go towards maintaining existing European projects such as the Hubble space telescope and Sun-observing spacecraft SOHO.
The European satellite launcher Ariane 5 will be rebuilt to carry twice as much payload to a geostationary orbit and new telecommunications and earth observation satellites will be launched.