So ESA just held a ministerial meeting and walked out waving a €22.1 billion receipt like a guy who went into the dealership for an oil change and left with a fully loaded SUV. The press line says this proves “confidence in Europe’s ambition in space.” The subtext whispers: the launcher program was on fire, the Americans keep giving us rides, and everyone was starting to look at SpaceX prices a bit too lovingly. Time to pass the hat.
The whole event is dressed up as a celebration of 50 years of ESA. Golden anniversary, lots of nostalgia, tasteful references to past missions. Very classy. Underneath the streamers you find the real content: security-flavored satellites, quantum toys for governments, lunar trucks, rescue packages for rockets that do not like leaving the pad on schedule, and just enough science to keep the astrophysicists from flipping tables.
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