This week it was announced that the government is allocating an extra 22.2 million euros for space travel. This amount is in addition to the 95.6 million euros that the Netherlands is contributing this year to the budget of ESA, the European Space Agency in which 22 countries work together.
With this additional government contribution, the government would like to ‘further expand the strong international position of our space sector’, because the sector provides jobs and income for our country. “But above all, space travel is the cradle of everyday innovative technology such as fast, secure data exchange, navigation systems and both measuring and tackling emissions,” said outgoing Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs, VVD) at the announcement.
Outdated buildings
The extra money will be released for the renovation of the space agency’s technological headquarters. ESA has offices in several European countries, but the largest space center is in the Netherlands. This is the so-called European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) in South Holland, beautifully situated right next to the Coepelduynen, a protected dune area between Noordwijk and Katwijk, part of the future Hollandse Duinen National Park.
The ESTEC complex is seen as the ‘technical heart’ of ESA. Space tests are being done and there is a development center. In total, around 2,800 highly educated people work there. However, some offices and laboratories still date from the 1960s and 1970s. The work and meeting places are outdated and need major renovation due to drafts and leaks.
The costs of the renovation are estimated at 148 million euros. As a host country, the Netherlands is contributing extra money at the request of ESA because of ‘the great importance of ESTEC for the business climate of high-tech companies’, Minister Adriaansens wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives.
The Netherlands is frugal
Nice words, but if you dig a little deeper into the figures, you will see that the Netherlands’ contribution to ESA is certainly not generous. For more than ten years, Dutch investments have been ‘clearly behind’ other countries, the space agency Netherlands Space Office (NSO) concluded in an advice to the cabinet last autumn.
“As a result, we see that the Netherlands has clearly lost ground to other countries in recent years. Orders that used to go to Dutch companies now go to other companies in Europe,” the NSO wrote.
To regain equal footing with the other ESA countries, the Netherlands would have had to contribute at least 275 million euros to ESA programs from 2023 to 2025. This would allow the Netherlands to once again benefit from its favorable position as a host country for European space travel.
But that advice was ignored. Although the ministry will invest an additional 32 percent in European space programs (376.5 million) over these three years, it ultimately opted – to the great disappointment of the sector – for an ESA contribution of 170 million, the minimum amount. With each lower budget, the Netherlands would have even had to withdraw from one or more ESA programs.
‘We benefit excessively’
“We pay very little, while we benefit excessively,” says Joris Melkert, aerospace engineer at TU Delft. “Because ESTEC is located in the Netherlands, this provides high-quality employment. Yet we make one of the smallest contributions of all member states. A country like Belgium pays more than the Netherlands. We are in the first rank for next to nothing.”
According to Melkert you can look at this in two ways. “You can of course think: we have arranged that well. But if you say that innovation is important as a country, you must do your part. If you indeed want to be a leader in technological innovation, then this is ideally what you as the Netherlands can do.”
Because the Netherlands has every reason to be ambitious. ESTEC provides the Dutch economy with approximately 400 million euros in annual income, NSO estimates. ESTEC spends around 500 million euros annually, including many investments from foreign space companies.
In the meantime, dozens of specialized space companies have established themselves in the Netherlands in the wake of ESA, which particularly excels in the development of instruments on board satellites and the processing of data collected from space.
Billion per year
The space sector is good for more than ten thousand jobs and provides the Dutch economy with 1 billion euros in added value annually, according to the most recent study from 2020, conducted by Dialogic on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Other sectors benefit indirectly from the space sector, especially suppliers of parts, materials, services (accountants, consultants, financiers) and transporters.
Minimal investment in space has consequences for the competitive position of the Netherlands, which has already been strongly weakened in recent years compared to the other ESA member states. Moreover, the Netherlands is antagonizing its fellow member states.
“If the Netherlands stops investing, other ESA countries will raise their eyebrows,” ESA director Josef Aschbacher said in an interview with the Trouw newspaper in November. “Pointing to their larger contribution to ESA, they may then propose to let some of those people work in their country.”
Retirement wave
The latter could have serious consequences for the Netherlands. ESA faces a major challenge in finding new staff in the coming years. Until 2030, approximately 44 percent of the workforce is expected to retire.
“It is true that Dutch investments in ESA’s optional programs have lagged behind in recent years compared to most other member states,” NSO director Harm van de Wetering told RTL Z. “And that would not be possible without consequences in the future. This is partly why politicians have asked for a structural solution in the form of a long-term vision on space travel. We are currently working hard on this with various ministries, knowledge institutions and companies.”
Multi-year budget ESA increases
ESA’s three-year budget increased this year. The European Space Agency may spend 16.9 billion euros in the period 2023 to 2025. That is 17 percent more than the three years before, when the amount was 14.5 billion euros. But less than the 18.5 billion euros that ESA director Josef Aschbacher had hoped for.
If Europe wants to continue to count in the ‘space race’ with the United States and China, it will have to tighten its purse strings, according to Aschbacher. “We should not repeat in the space sector what we did in the field of IT. We stopped investing 20 years ago and were relegated to the second division,” Aschbacher said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde at the end of last year. .