BREMEN – The European Space Agency’s Human and Robotic Exploration (HRE) program fell short of its budget request at the ministerial, with member nations agreeing to contribute 2.98 billion euros ($3.08 billion), accounting for roughly 70% of the 3.77 billion euro ask. ESA set its overall budget at 22.1 billion euros — a significant increase compared to the €16.9 billion approved in 2022.

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Emma Gatti is a planetary scientist, editor and journalist, and serves as a research professor in Space Journalism and Current Affairs at the Faculty of Space Technology, AGH University of Krakow. She is also the director of The Space Republic, a media...