Latest news with #NewAthena
Euronews
3 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
What happens to Europe's space ambitions if NASA cuts joint missions
While the European Space Agency (ESA) waits to see whether the United States will cut 19 of their joint programmes, experts say the relationship between the two governments will likely not go back to the way it was. NASA's 2026 technical budget request, which was released earlier this month, details possible cuts to programmes such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a space probe that measures gravitational waves, Envision, ESA's first mission to Venus to measure its different atmospheres, and NewAthena, the world's largest X-ray observatory. The budget also cuts funding to certain components of Moon missions after Artemis III, a mission that would bring humans back to its surface in 2027. The cancellations are in the name of finding a more 'sustainable and cost-effective' lunar exploration strategy. The bill still needs to be approved by Congress, which could likely be in the autumn. Alberto Rueda Carazo, research fellow with the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) think tank, said he has never seen any NASA budget like it. 'Whether or not Congress restores the money, the message is clear: Washington's science commitments can vanish overnight,' he told Euronews Next. ESA said at a press conference last week that 19 of its research projects might be impacted by the proposed NASA budget cuts. The ones where mitigation would be needed are the LISA, Envision and NewAthena. Without NASA contributions to these projects, Carazo said the missions might 'slip years,' possibly pushed back 'well into the 2030s,' and risk cancellation. The questions that these three missions address, like the mergers of black holes, hot-plasma physics and the history of Earth-size planets, would 'remain unanswered for at least a decade,' he said. Ludwig Moeller, ESPI's director, believes that the LISA programme will continue in the future with or without NASA. 'I think the objective of what LISA wants to do is perfectly understood,' he said. 'I don't think we will lose the discovery in the medium term'. Carazo said it could also affect Europe's leadership in fundamental astrophysics, the branch of astronomy that studies the physical structure of stars and other celestial bodies. The hardest hit of the research programmes, according to Carazo, is the ExoMars mission carrying the Rosalind Franklin rover. NASA provides the launch and descent hardware for the craft to fly so the programme cannot continue unless Europe is able to find and build a heavy-lift alternative. Josef Aschbacher, ESA's director general, said in a recent press conference that no cuts or cancellations were coming until the US 'finalises' its position, but that no matter the decision made by Congress, ESA would be 'ready' and 'well-prepared' to react. There are also possible impacts for Europe's Moon mission aspirations, because if the NASA cuts are approved, Carazo said Europe's 'two principal avenues into the Artemis architecture would disappear'. The ESA builds European Space Modules (ESMs) that provide electricity and oxygen to Orion, the spacecraft picked by NASA for the Artemis missions to the surface of the Moon. The NASA cuts would mean that the assembly line in Bremen, Germany, would finish the hardware for the flights but would have nothing scheduled after 2028. That could mean an 'early shut down' of the production line and the associated supply chain, Carazo added. The ESA also contributes three key elements for Gateway, the first international space station to be built around the Moon. Like the ESM parts, the Gateway hardware that's been built 'would have nowhere to go,' and Europe would lose a 'guaranteed, sustained presence in cislunar space'. There are other knock-off effects to consider regarding Europe's aspirations to study the Moon, he added. 'European astronaut seats after Artemis III would vanish, and key technologies that ESA is counting on for a later lunar-surface architecture—closed-loop life support, high-power solar-electric propulsion—would be delayed, widening the capability gap Europe had hoped to close in the 2030s,' he added. It is quite easy for NASA to get out of deals with the ESA or other partners, even if a contract has been signed, Carazo said. NASA contracts fall under the US Federal Acquisition Regulation, where the government has a 'termination for convenience' clause that lets them cancel any contract they want so long as they pay for costs already incurred. 'If Congress deletes the line item, NASA is legally obliged to stop spending, give ESA formal notice and negotiate a settlement; there is no binding dispute-resolution clause that could force the United States back in,' Carazo said. 'A pull-out would be diplomatically and politically messy but completely lawful'. The US has done this before by exiting its ExoMars programme obligations in 2012 under the Obama administration, Carazo added. Withdrawing from this project, in particular for a second time, 'would cement the perception that US commitments last no longer than a presidential term'. Europe's best bet while waiting for the American position to become clear is to offer to absorb a bigger share of the mission and ground costs while also investing in homegrown hardware to supply ESA's future missions, Carazo added. The most immediate consequence of the NASA cuts would be a 'permanent dent in Washington's reputational capital,' Carazo said. A 'diversification' of partners to assist with the ESA missions would follow so that 'no single foreign veto can stall an ESA flagship [programme] again.' ESA is looking to broaden relationships with Canada, Japan and India and while no deals are actively being pursued with China, it remains an option that could be explored, Carazo added. 'All of this reshapes the diplomatic map of space science, diluting US soft power,' Carazo said, adding that projects like China's International Lunar Research Station could start to 'woo European participation'. This is not the first time that Europe has discussed its sovereignty in space, according to Ludwig Moeller, ESPI's director. In 2023, an expert group released a report that noted Europe has 'no independent human launch capacity' and 'relies on non-European partners to send humans to space,' according to a press release about the report. The NASA budget cuts are bringing up this discussion again, Moeller added, along with questions of how much Europe should be investing in security and defence. 'The two points, security, defence and exploration are both on the agenda to an extent that I don't think in the history of Europe has ever existed,' he said. 'This … disruption is unique.' Part of the sovereignty discussion is how Europe is developing domestic supply chains to build the necessary hardware for NASA-vulnerable missions like the ExoMars, according to Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA's director of human and robotic exploration in last weeks media briefing. For example, Neuenschwander said that critical parts for the ExoMars rover, like an americium radioisotope heater unit (RHU) could be built in Europe to sustain future Moon missions. Yet, Moeller said Europe is not ready to give up on a transatlantic relationship that is built on shared values. '[Space exploration] really takes a village and the USA is still part of that village… in a different size, maybe in a different shape,' he said. '[But] Space exploration is a decadal task, it's not a transaction of the day'. National data protection authorities should see easier cooperation in cross-border privacy cases under updated rules that were rubber stamped by the EU institutions on Monday evening. The European Commission planned to fix shortcomings in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – which entered into force in 2018 – by introducing an update in 2023 that was aimed at accelerating decisions and harmonizing procedural rules. Under the GDPR, national regulators must transfer cases to watchdogs based in other member states when the company is headquartered in another country. But this cross-border system has been panned by privacy advocates as complaints can take years to resolve. In Monday's trilogue – the inter-institutional negotiations between the Commission, the European Parliament and the member states – the parties agreed on a mechanism to resolve complaints more swiftly through measures to facilitate consensus-building. In addition, the rules introduce a 15-month deadline in which an investigation must be completed. It can be extended by 12 months in the most complex cases. Poland's Minister for Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, called the deal 'a big step towards improving cooperation' between the data protection authorities. Agustín Reyna, Director General of Consumer group BEUC said in a response that 'the agreement marks some progress for those like us, who have been frustrated to see the GDPR's enforcement as its Achilles heel.' Reyna added that it is 'important given the power of multinationals and the snail pace of GDPR enforcement for the last years.' NOYB's Max Schrems, a privacy lawyer and activist, told Euronews that while there are some benefits, like deadlines, "the overall result will be less rights and less enforcement for citizens." "This law is a disgrace as it allows authorities to even enforce less and cut out citizens from procedures about their own rights. The procedure is also needlessly complex and will generate much more work for authorities," he said, adding that this may be subject to annulment by the Courts, because "it ignores basic procedural principles and logic." The provisional agreement will need a formal confirmation by the member states and the Parliament. Last month, the Commission presented a simplification package to offer relief to small mid-cap companies burdened by the current scope of the GDPR. Currently, companies with fewer than 250 employees are exempt from the data privacy rules to reduce their administrative costs, the Commission now proposes to extend this derogation to the so-called small mid-cap companies of up to 500 staff members.
Euronews
3 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
EU clinches deal to ease cross-border data protection cooperation
While the European Space Agency (ESA) waits to see whether the United States will cut 19 of their joint programmes, experts say the relationship between the two governments will likely not go back to the way it was. NASA's 2026 technical budget request, which was released earlier this month, details possible cuts to programmes such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a space probe that measures gravitational waves, Envision, ESA's first mission to Venus to measure its different atmospheres, and NewAthena, the world's largest X-ray observatory. The budget also cuts funding to certain components of Moon missions after Artemis III, a mission that would bring humans back to its surface in 2027. The cancellations are in the name of finding a more 'sustainable and cost-effective' lunar exploration strategy. The bill still needs to be approved by Congress, which could likely be in the autumn. Alberto Rueda Carazo, research fellow with the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) think tank, said he has never seen any NASA budget like it. 'Whether or not Congress restores the money, the message is clear: Washington's science commitments can vanish overnight,' he told Euronews Next. ESA said at a press conference last week that 19 of its research projects might be impacted by the proposed NASA budget cuts. The ones where mitigation would be needed are the LISA, Envision and NewAthena. Without NASA contributions to these projects, Carazo said the missions might 'slip years,' possibly pushed back 'well into the 2030s,' and risk cancellation. The questions that these three missions address, like the mergers of black holes, hot-plasma physics and the history of Earth-size planets, would 'remain unanswered for at least a decade,' he said. Ludwig Moeller, ESPI's director, believes that the LISA programme will continue in the future with or without NASA. 'I think the objective of what LISA wants to do is perfectly understood,' he said. 'I don't think we will lose the discovery in the medium term'. Carazo said it could also affect Europe's leadership in fundamental astrophysics, the branch of astronomy that studies the physical structure of stars and other celestial bodies. The hardest hit of the research programmes, according to Carazo, is the ExoMars mission carrying the Rosalind Franklin rover. NASA provides the launch and descent hardware for the craft to fly so the programme cannot continue unless Europe is able to find and build a heavy-lift alternative. Josef Aschbacher, ESA's director general, said in a recent press conference that no cuts or cancellations were coming until the US 'finalises' its position, but that no matter the decision made by Congress, ESA would be 'ready' and 'well-prepared' to react. There are also possible impacts for Europe's Moon mission aspirations, because if the NASA cuts are approved, Carazo said Europe's 'two principal avenues into the Artemis architecture would disappear'. The ESA builds European Space Modules (ESMs) that provide electricity and oxygen to Orion, the spacecraft picked by NASA for the Artemis missions to the surface of the Moon. The NASA cuts would mean that the assembly line in Bremen, Germany, would finish the hardware for the flights but would have nothing scheduled after 2028. That could mean an 'early shut down' of the production line and the associated supply chain, Carazo added. The ESA also contributes three key elements for Gateway, the first international space station to be built around the Moon. Like the ESM parts, the Gateway hardware that's been built 'would have nowhere to go,' and Europe would lose a 'guaranteed, sustained presence in cislunar space'. There are other knock-off effects to consider regarding Europe's aspirations to study the Moon, he added. 'European astronaut seats after Artemis III would vanish, and key technologies that ESA is counting on for a later lunar-surface architecture—closed-loop life support, high-power solar-electric propulsion—would be delayed, widening the capability gap Europe had hoped to close in the 2030s,' he added. It is quite easy for NASA to get out of deals with the ESA or other partners, even if a contract has been signed, Carazo said. NASA contracts fall under the US Federal Acquisition Regulation, where the government has a 'termination for convenience' clause that lets them cancel any contract they want so long as they pay for costs already incurred. 'If Congress deletes the line item, NASA is legally obliged to stop spending, give ESA formal notice and negotiate a settlement; there is no binding dispute-resolution clause that could force the United States back in,' Carazo said. 'A pull-out would be diplomatically and politically messy but completely lawful'. The US has done this before by exiting its ExoMars programme obligations in 2012 under the Obama administration, Carazo added. Withdrawing from this project, in particular for a second time, 'would cement the perception that US commitments last no longer than a presidential term'. Europe's best bet while waiting for the American position to become clear is to offer to absorb a bigger share of the mission and ground costs while also investing in homegrown hardware to supply ESA's future missions, Carazo added. The most immediate consequence of the NASA cuts would be a 'permanent dent in Washington's reputational capital,' Carazo said. A 'diversification' of partners to assist with the ESA missions would follow so that 'no single foreign veto can stall an ESA flagship [programme] again.' ESA is looking to broaden relationships with Canada, Japan and India and while no deals are actively being pursued with China, it remains an option that could be explored, Carazo added. 'All of this reshapes the diplomatic map of space science, diluting US soft power,' Carazo said, adding that projects like China's International Lunar Research Station could start to 'woo European participation'. This is not the first time that Europe has discussed its sovereignty in space, according to Ludwig Moeller, ESPI's director. In 2023, an expert group released a report that noted Europe has 'no independent human launch capacity' and 'relies on non-European partners to send humans to space,' according to a press release about the report. The NASA budget cuts are bringing up this discussion again, Moeller added, along with questions of how much Europe should be investing in security and defence. 'The two points, security, defence and exploration are both on the agenda to an extent that I don't think in the history of Europe has ever existed,' he said. 'This … disruption is unique.' Part of the sovereignty discussion is how Europe is developing domestic supply chains to build the necessary hardware for NASA-vulnerable missions like the ExoMars, according to Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA's director of human and robotic exploration in last weeks media briefing. For example, Neuenschwander said that critical parts for the ExoMars rover, like an americium radioisotope heater unit (RHU) could be built in Europe to sustain future Moon missions. Yet, Moeller said Europe is not ready to give up on a transatlantic relationship that is built on shared values. '[Space exploration] really takes a village and the USA is still part of that village… in a different size, maybe in a different shape,' he said. '[But] Space exploration is a decadal task, it's not a transaction of the day'. National data protection authorities should see easier cooperation in cross-border privacy cases under updated rules that were rubber stamped by the EU institutions on Monday evening. The European Commission planned to fix shortcomings in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – which entered into force in 2018 – by introducing an update in 2023 that was aimed at accelerating decisions and harmonizing procedural rules. Under the GDPR, national regulators must transfer cases to watchdogs based in other member states when the company is headquartered in another country. But this cross-border system has been panned by privacy advocates as complaints can take years to resolve. In Monday's trilogue – the inter-institutional negotiations between the Commission, the European Parliament and the member states – the parties agreed on a mechanism to resolve complaints more swiftly through measures to facilitate consensus-building. In addition, the rules introduce a 15-month deadline in which an investigation must be completed. It can be extended by 12 months in the most complex cases. Poland's Minister for Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, calledthe deal 'a big step towards improving cooperation' between the data protection authorities. Agustín Reyna, Director General of Consumer group BEUC said in a response that 'the agreement marks some progress for those like us, who have been frustrated to see the GDPR's enforcement as its Achilles heel.' Reyna added that it is 'important given the power of multinationals and the snail pace of GDPR enforcement for the last years.' NOYB's Max Schrems, a privacy lawyer and activist, told Euronews that while there are some benefits, like deadlines, "the overall result will be less rights and less enforcement for citizens." "This law is a disgrace as it allows authorities to even enforce less and cut out citizens from procedures about their own rights. The procedure is also needlessly complex and will generate much more work for authorities," he said, adding that this may be subject to annulment by the Courts, because "it ignores basic procedural principles and logic." The provisional agreement will need a formal confirmation by the member states and the Parliament. Last month, the Commission presented a simplification package to offer relief to small mid-cap companies burdened by the current scope of the GDPR. Currently, companies with fewer than 250 employees are exempt from the data privacy rules to reduce their administrative costs, the Commission now proposes to extend this derogation to the so-called small mid-cap companies of up to 500 staff members. WhatsApp said that users will start seeing adverts in parts of the app, as owner Meta Platforms moves to cultivate a new revenue stream by tapping the billions of people who use the messaging service. Advertisements will be shown only in the app's Updates tab, which is used by as many as 1.5 billion people each day. However, they will not appear where personal chats are located, developers said. 'The personal messaging experience on WhatsApp isn't changing, and personal messages, calls and statuses are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be used to show ads,' WhatsApp said in a blog post on Monday. It is a big change for the company, whose founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton vowed to keep the platform free of ads when they created it in 2009. Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014 and the pair left a few years later. Parent company Meta Platforms Inc. has long been trying to generate revenue from WhatsApp. WhatsApp said ads will be targeted to users based on information like their age, the country or city where they're located, the language they're using, the channels they're following in the app, and how they're interacting with the ads they see. WhatsApp said it will not use personal messages, calls and groups that a user is a member of to target ads to the user. Meta said that any data sharing on WhatsApp and any of its other apps for ad targeting was optional. Last year, the European Commission signalled that without ads being optional, the move fails to comply with its Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The European Centre for Digital Rights (noyb), led by privacy activist Max Schrems said that Meta's 'Pay or Okay' approach effectively forces users to choose between privacy and affordability. "Meta is doing exactly the opposite of what EU law requires," Schrems said in a statement. "The data of its various platforms gets linked, and users are tracked for advertising without any genuine choice. Without freely given consent, linking data and showing personalised advertising is clearly illegal," he added. Noyb said it would examine Meta's actions and "initiate procedures against the company "if necessary". The details depend on Meta's practical implementation and therefore cannot yet be assessed conclusively. Schrems said he expected a WhatsApp exodus to the messaging app Signal. 'Signal works just as well as WhatsApp, but is non-profit and donation-funded," he said. WhatsApp unveiled three advertising features on Monday as it tries to monetise the app's user base. Channels will also be able to charge users a monthly fee for subscriptions so they can get exclusive updates. Business owners will also be able to pay to promote their channel's visibility to new users. Most of Meta's revenue comes from ads. In 2025, the Menlo Park, California-based company's revenue totalled $164.5 billion (€142 billion) and $160.6 billion (€138 billion) of it came from advertising.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
European Space Agency reveals 3 key space missions threatened by Trump's NASA budget cuts
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The European Space Agency (ESA) has revealed that three of the 19 missions it is planning or operating in collaboration with NASA are at risk as a result of President Trump's proposed budget cuts, which could slash finances available to the U.S space agency by 24%. During a press conference held on Thursday (June 12), ESA Director of Science Carole Mundell revealed that the space-based gravitational wave observatory LISA, the Venus orbiter EnVision, and the largest X-ray observatory ever planned, NewAthena, could be threatened if the proposed NASA budget cuts in Trump's FY26 budget go ahead. ESA thinks that at this initial stage, the impact can be mitigated on the other 16 missions in collaboration with NASA, but the remaining three missions may require a rethink if they happen at all. "We're looking at three potential missions that, should the budget proposal come to pass as written, would require recovery actions. That's LISA, EnVision, the NewAthena," Mundell said. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher added: "This is an ongoing negotiation in the United States. It is not for us as ESA to comment on these negotiations or to interfere, but we are impacted in quite a number of domains that are, at least at the moment, proposed for cancellations or reductions. "This will require that some of the activities may be frozen. No decisions or cancellations have yet been made because the decisions on the side of the U.S. are not yet finalized. We need to wait for the final decisions from the U.S." Mundell continued by underlining how deeply ESA values the collaboration between Europe and NASA, but added that Europe does have or could acquire the technical capabilities to reduce to reproduce missing elements. "That's something that we're now working through," she number of missions that could be threatened if ESA is forced to repurpose funds extends beyond the three missions mentioned above. Though the Nov. 16, 2025 launch of the sea-level rise monitoring Sentinel-6B spacecraft will go ahead as planned, its sibling mission, Sentinel-6C, could also be impacted by the proposed budget cuts if they are passed successfully. "It was my proposal when I was director of Earth observation, to rename a satellite Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich [after former director of the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters from 2006 to 2019]," Aschbacher added. "It would be a pity if Sentinel-6C were not funded or supported, as it is a successor of the mission Michael Freilich, which is still in space. We offered our satellite to be named after a NASA Administrator as a very visible sign of the of the deepness of the cooperation between NASA and ESA." Proposed U.S. budget cuts could also impact the planned Mars rover Rosalind Franklin, previously known as the ExoMars rover. That is because the robotic explorer named after the esteemed British chemist was set to feature several components supplied by NASA. ESA may now seek to develop on its own the technologies for the three main elements of the rover set to be provided by NASA: its launcher, radio isotope heater unit, and aerobraking engine. This will take time and may impact the mission's timeline, which would have seen Rosalind Franklin head to Mars in 2028. Related Stories: — Trump administration proposes slashing NASA budget by 24% — Experts alarmed as White House proposes 'largest single-year cut to NASA in American history' — Trump's 2026 budget plan would cancel NASA's Mars Sample Return mission. Experts say that's a 'major step back' Of course, nothing is yet set in stone, with the U.S. Congress yet to have the final say on how to allocate federal dollars. A final decision on the FY 2026 Discretionary Budget is expected in Fall 2025. Meanwhile, ESA will meet in late November to finalize its own budget. This means that the space agency may have to move ahead with contingency planning and budgeting before the final outcome of proposed U.S. budget cuts is known. "The timing is expected to be maybe just before decisions are being made, and the fiscal year 26 budget will be known for sure. We need to assess on one side, how much it costs to wait, and how long we can wait," Aschbacher said. "There is a lot of analysis and options that need to be verified and need to be discussed."In brief, the main highlight, or the main point, is that we have agreed to make sure that Europe is increasing its resilience and autonomy to make sure that we have the technologies we need in the near future."
Euronews
12-06-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Multi-million pilot project leads Uzbekistan's digital transformation
At the Tashkent International Investment Forum 2025 (TIFF 2025), green tech and AI-ready infrastructure dominated the conversation, and few projects generated as much buzz as Data Volt's push to build the region's first fully sustainable, high-density data centres. 'We're bringing in the latest technology, especially in cooling', said Rajit Nanda, CEO of Data Volt, outlining how the company is rethinking the fundamentals of digital infrastructure. 'These facilities aren't just built for today – they're built for where AI is heading'. Data Volt's model is deceptively simple: use solar by day, wind by night, and store the rest in powerful battery systems that keep operations running around the clock. What makes it revolutionary is the scale and the context. In a world where data centres already account for around 3% of global emissions, and AI could triple energy demand, this model is a direct response to a growing crisis. 'If we don't start building sustainable data centers now, the industry's carbon footprint could rival that of aviation within a decade', warned Nanda. Data Volt isn't waiting. It has already launched a pilot project worth €185 million in Tashkent's IT Park. Larger facilities are in the pipeline, including a new site in the ancient city of Bukhara expected to attract €2.8 billion, and a third project in New Tashkent, a futuristic smart city being built from the ground up. Altogether, the company plans to invest over €4.6 billion in Uzbekistan over the next five years. What sets Data Volt apart is not just its green credentials, it's how the company is preparing for the next wave of AI. Traditional data centres in the region operate at roughly 10 kilowatts per rack. Data Volt's current designs push that to 100 kilowatts, and upcoming projects aim to reach densities of 1,000 kilowatts per rack – capable of supporting the heaviest AI workloads. This level of performance requires more than just power. It also demands sophisticated cooling both air and liquid, to keep high-density servers operating efficiently and sustainably. 'The world is running out of computer power,' said Nanda. 'As AI becomes part of everyday life, we want to make sure people don't experience buffering or lag like we did in the early days of the internet'. Uzbekistan's digital transformation continues to surprise many investors. With an action plan full of reforms, a young and tech-savvy population, and increasing openness to foreign investment, the country is fast becoming a testbed for innovation. 'Uzbekistan is transforming', Nanda admitted. 'The local talent pool, especially in energy and digital, makes it a natural candidate to lead the region's digital revolution'. And while the projects are rooted in Central Asia, the vision is global. Data Volt's infrastructure is being designed to meet the world's growing demand for real-time AI, green computing, and scalable, sustainable tech solutions. The digital future is coming faster than expected. The challenge is building the infrastructure to support it without breaking the planet. At TIIF 2025, one thing was clear: that work has already begun.
Euronews
12-06-2025
- Science
- Euronews
ESA considering freezing or axing missions amid NASA budget cuts
The European Space Agency (ESA) isn't ruling out programme cuts or freezes if proposed budget cuts to the American space agency NASA are passed by the US Congress later this year. NASA's 2026 technical budget request, which was released last week, details possible cuts to 19 European space research programmes and could impact key technologies that ESA supplies to American Moon missions. The bill still needs Congress' approval, likely to come this autumn. Josef Aschbacher, ESA's director general, told journalists on Thursday that the council is 'doing its homework' to analyse what the impacts of possible NASA budget cuts could be and how investments made by its member states could be 'used in the most efficient way,' to respond. Aschbacher assured that no cuts or cancellations were coming until the US "finalised" its position, but that no matter the decision made by Congress, ESA would be "ready" and "well-prepared" to react. Carole Mundell, ESA's director of science, said the agency had determined 19 research projects could be impacted by the proposed NASA budget cuts. Mundell said ESA and its international partners could mitigate the damage to all but three of them: the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a space probe that measures gravitational waves, Envision, ESA's first mission to Venus to measure its different atmospheres, and NewAthena, the world's largest X-Ray observatory. LISA and Envision have already been approved by the ESA council for funding, and NewAthena will come before the council but is expected to pass in 2027. ESA also supplies NASA with certain key parts for the NASA-led Artemis missions that would see humans return to the surface of the Moon for the first time since the 1960s. The ESA builds European Space Modules (ESMs) that provide electricity and oxygen to Orion, the spacecraft picked by NASA for the Artemis missions to the surface of the Moon. The ESA is also in charge of the Argonaut, Europe's lunar lander programme that would ultimately support these missions. It is also contributing three key elements for Gateway, the first international space station to be built around the Moon. The proposed NASA budget said that it will sustain funding for the Artemis II mission, scheduled for early 2026, and the Artemis III mission in 2027, but future missions would cancel the Gateway and retire Orion in the name of finding a more 'sustainable and cost-effective' lunar exploration strategy. Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA's director of human and robotic exploration, said the agency continues to fulfill its Gateway and ESM contracts with NASA. Even if cuts are approved, Argonaut and these European capabilities would still be used to support ESA missions, he added. Neuenschwander said ESA was now exploring with industry how some replacement technologies could be built in the EU. For example, the NASA cuts target the Rosalind Franklin ExoMars Rover mission, an ESA programme that drills down to the surface of the Red Planet to dig up organic material for further scientific study. NASA supplies three parts of the rover's technology, including the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA), an astrobiology instrument that does the sample extraction, and an americium radioisotope heater unit (RHU) to power the vehicle. Both technologies are not currently available to be produced in Europe, Neuenschwander said, but that engagement is starting to build them. The RHU in particular can also be used for future ESA lunar surface exploration missions, he added. Neuenschwander said ESA could rely on other partners, like the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), in the short term to supply technologies like the MOMA or RHU, but ultimately the goal is to build the necessary technology in Europe.
