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Czech gov't increases financial contribution to European Space Agency

Xinhua, November 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Czech government approved on Monday to increase the financial contribution to the European Space Agency's (ESA) budget in 2017, aiming to help Czech industry get acquainted with state-of-the-art space technologies, said Czech Transport Minister Dan Tok.

The Czech Transport Ministry coordinates space activities in the Czech Republic.

The Czech government will set 830 million crowns (about 33.2 million U.S. dollars) for space research in 2017.

The gradual increase of contributions to space research, particularly satellite technology, will help Czech industry overcome its reputation of "mere assembly hall", said Tok.

He said it's a way to help Czech industry to get in touch with the most advanced technologies used in the outer space.

According to the Transport Ministry, the Czech contributions to the operation of ESA work has long been undervalued compared to other ESA member states.

Last year, the Czech government increased the contribution to the ESA from 200 million crowns to 327 million crowns.

Tok said Czech was one of the first ESA members from Central Europe and it has participated in the agency's activities in a long term, and Czech joined a new optional program of development of new Ariane 6 launch vehicles this year.

In order to meet the goals identified in the National Space Program for 2014, Czech is yet to pay 245 million crowns a year to the ESA's optional programs. The agency therefore proposed to increase the annual contribution to the optional programs by this sum to 445 million crowns.

Besides, Czech must pay 225 million crowns from the Education Ministry's budget to the ESA's obligatory activities, and another 60 million crowns from the Education Ministry will be contributed to the optional programs of research and development.

Another amount that Czech contributed to the ESA is 100 million crowns for the preparation of industrial capacities in the Czech Republic for its participation in a space program within the National Space Program.

The ESA was founded in 1975 with the aim to draft and implement the European Space Program. The ESA's aim is to deepen the knowledge on the planet Earth, the Solar System and the whole outer space. (1 U.S. dollars = 25 crowns) Endit