Spaceflight

Two versions of the European Space Agency’s 2006-8 budget will be proposed because of uncertainty over major issues, including the viability of the International Space Station (ISS). Other issues include the Ariane 5 replacement and funding from the European Union’s new space programme.

The ISS’s future is uncertain because the final number of Space Shuttle flights is unknown. “At a meeting in Japan it was clear that now NASA just does not know how many Shuttle flights there will be,” says ESA’s chief technology officer, Michel Courtois.

Senior ESA officials met their NASA counterparts at the International Astronautical Congress in Fukuoka, Japan last month. ESA is also waiting to see how much the EU will provide after the expected agreement this year on a joint space programme. But the EU has yet to decide its budget.

The decision on developing a partially or fully reusable Ariane 5 replacement is another major factor.