„Vor 20 Jahren hätte sich niemand vorstellen können, welche Bedeutung das Internet heute für das tägliche Leben hat, und ich denke, die Raumfahrt befindet sich in einer ähnlichen Situation“, sagte Josef Aschbacher, Generaldirektor der Europäischen Weltraumorganisation, gegenüber The Big Question.
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00:00Spaß wird überall sein.
00:01Du kannst nicht ohne Spaß leben.
00:02In 20 Jahren,
00:041 Euro, das in Spaßprogramme investiert wird,
00:06bringt ungefähr 5 Euro zurück in die Wirtschaft.
00:14Willkommen bei der großen Frage.
00:15Die Serie von Euronews,
00:16in der wir jede Ecke
00:18der Welt des Businesses erkunden.
00:19Heute bin ich mit dem Direktor General
00:21der Europäischen Spaßagentur,
00:22Josef Aschbacher, eingeladen.
00:24Vielen Dank, dass du heute mit mir dabei bist.
00:25In den letzten Jahren hat das Bild von Spaßreisen
00:27als eine Art Billionärs-Jungs-Club gewirkt.
00:30Glaubst du, dass die private Spaßindustrie
00:32einen wichtigen Roll in der Spaßindustrie weltweit spielt?
00:35Die private Spaßindustrie spielt einen großen Roll,
00:36aber es ist auch klar,
00:38dass die private Spaßindustrie
00:39ohne öffentliche Investitionen nicht erreicht wird.
00:43Nehmen wir zum Beispiel SpaceX.
00:45SpaceX ist die größte Spaßfirma
00:47heute in der Welt.
00:48Aber sie wurde gebaut,
00:50dank einer sehr starken Unterstützung von NASA,
00:53sowohl in Bezug auf das Geld.
00:55NASA hat uns enorm viel Geld gegeben,
00:57um Projekte zu bauen und zu entwickeln,
00:58aber auch Expertise.
01:00Also ja, wir brauchen private Investitionen,
01:02wir brauchen Kapital-Investitionen,
01:04wir brauchen Investitionen
01:05aus außerhalb des öffentlichen Bereichs.
01:07Absolut.
01:08Und ich arbeite sehr hart
01:10auch in Europa daran.
01:11Aber es muss Hand in Hand
01:13mit europäischen Programmen gehen,
01:14die das Ziel geben,
01:15was wir tun wollen.
01:16Wir wollen in die Spaßstation,
01:18wir wollen in den Mond,
01:19wir wollen Mars.
01:20Und dann engagieren wir die private Industrie
01:22und kaufen ein Service von ihnen.
01:23Aber wir müssen wirklich dafür sorgen,
01:24dass wir die langfristige Vision,
01:25die langfristigen Programme
01:27und das Geld, um sie zu ermöglichen, haben.
01:28Ja, absolut.
01:29Warum ist ESAs Arbeit
01:31wichtig, das öffentlich gefundet werden muss?
01:33Oh, es ist extrem wichtig.
01:35Manchmal mache ich eine Vergleiche
01:37und sage,
01:38schau, wenn ich dich 20 Jahre hervorragte,
01:41bräuchtest du das Internet?
01:42Du hättest gesagt, ja,
01:43das klingt sehr aufregend,
01:45das klingt sehr faszinierend,
01:46es könnte gut für etwas sein.
01:47Aber 20 Jahre hervorragend,
01:49niemand hätte jemals gedacht,
01:51die Dimension, die das Internet heute
01:53für das tägliche Leben, für alles.
01:55Und ich denke,
01:55der Raum ist ein bisschen in einer ähnlichen Situation.
01:58Heute, natürlich,
01:58der Raum ist bereits in vielen Disziplinen
02:00verwendet,
02:01aber in 20 Jahren von heute
02:03kann ich dir versichern,
02:04dass der Raum überall sein wird.
02:05Es wird Menschen verbinden,
02:07es wird unsere Planeten beobachten
02:08und viele andere Dinge
02:09werden mit Raumtechnologie unterstützt.
02:11In anderen Worten,
02:12du kannst nicht ohne Raum leben.
02:13In 20 Jahren von heute,
02:14schon heute kannst du nicht ohne Raum leben,
02:16aber in 20 Jahren noch mehr.
02:17Und das hat ökonomische Aspekte,
02:19gesellschaftliche Aspekte,
02:21geopolitische Aspekte,
02:22auch die Sicherheitsaspekte,
02:24aber nicht zuletzt auch
02:25die Inspiration von Menschen.
02:27Denn wenn man coole Raumprogramme hat,
02:29arbeiten junge Menschen dort
02:31und gehen nicht aus dem Land
02:32oder aus dem Kontinent.
02:33Ich sah
02:34vor sieben Jahren
02:35das Mondlanden
02:37und das änderte mein Mindset.
02:40Es hat mich überzeugt,
02:41dass das etwas ist,
02:41was ich als Erwachsener arbeiten möchte.
02:43Und ich bin immer noch fasziniert.
02:45Also ja, Raum ist sehr wichtig
02:47für die Europäische Raumagentur,
02:48aber eigentlich für jeden
02:50Bürger in Europa und weltweit.
02:53All these brilliant programmes
02:55and research and stuff
02:56that you do here at ESA,
02:57it's not cheap.
02:58But how much does it actually cost?
03:00It is very cheap.
03:01The ESA budget is about
03:028 billion per year.
03:03So if you compare this figure
03:05and put it in context
03:06with what is spent in the US,
03:08NASA has a budget of about
03:0925 billion per year.
03:10We have in ESA one third
03:11of the NASA budget.
03:12But having said that,
03:13we do have a huge output
03:15for what we do.
03:16Last year we had a record
03:18of 25 billion per year.
03:20And that's a lot of money.
03:22We had a record number of
03:2313 satellites that we have launched.
03:25We had the inaugural flight
03:26of Ariane 6.
03:28We had the return to flight
03:29of Vega-C.
03:30And all of this has been successful.
03:32We have two flagship programmes
03:34today that are Copernicus
03:35and Galileo.
03:36They are the best programmes
03:37in the world.
03:38Galileo delivers the most
03:40accurate signal for navigation
03:41worldwide.
03:42It's more accurate than GPS,
03:43despite the fact that Galileo
03:45was developed 20 years after
03:47GPS was already on the market.
03:48The very same happens in Copernicus.
03:51We have the most comprehensive
03:53observation of our planet
03:54and we deliver 350 terabytes
03:56of data to the globe
03:58of what happens on our planet.
03:59Again, it's the best
04:00Earth observation programme
04:01in the world.
04:02So I think this is something
04:03that shows that we do with
04:04a relatively modest amount
04:06of money a lot of deliverables
04:07in terms of space infrastructure.
04:09And I think this is something
04:10that Europe can be very proud of
04:11because this is money
04:13very well invested.
04:14Yeah, and for that investment
04:15from the member states in Europe,
04:17how does ESA contribute
04:19to the European economy?
04:20We've asked some consultancy
04:22companies to assess how much
04:24one euro invested in space
04:26is bringing back to the economy.
04:28Depends a little bit
04:28on the domain.
04:29In Earth observation
04:30or in weather forecasting,
04:31the economic impact is higher
04:33as compared to technology
04:35development.
04:36But across the board,
04:37one euro invested in space
04:39infrastructure or space programmes
04:41brings about five euro
04:41back to the economy.
04:43More recently, I've seen
04:44one example of the Arctic
04:45Weather Satellite, which we have
04:47just launched last year.
04:48One euro invested in this
04:50Arctic Weather Satellite
04:51constellation.
04:52It's at the moment
04:53with one satellite,
04:54but there's a future constellation
04:55that can be built up,
04:56can bring economic values
04:5850 times higher than the investment.
05:00Brilliant.
05:00All the work that actually
05:01happens in space,
05:02the programmes and the missions
05:03and the satellites and things,
05:05how do they benefit us
05:06in our economy?
05:07WeChill is a very interesting
05:08mission because it's monitoring
05:10space weather.
05:11In this particular case,
05:12the solar flares
05:13that come from the sun.
05:14So if there's a strong solar
05:16storm or solar flare,
05:18it can impact our
05:19infrastructure on planet Earth.
05:21That means electric systems,
05:23even in space, the electronics
05:25can be damaged.
05:26So we need to know when such
05:28a solar flare is about to
05:30happen and has a certain intensity
05:31that it could harm our
05:32infrastructure.
05:33So WeChill is actually one
05:35of two satellites.
05:36One is built by ESA, the WeChill,
05:38another one by NASA.
05:39And with these two satellites,
05:41you can really determine much
05:42earlier when a strong
05:44solar eruption would come and
05:46therefore have an impact on
05:48infrastructure, either in space
05:50of satellites or the space
05:52station or on Earth for the
05:53electrical grid, which is one of
05:55the elements that is at risk.
05:57How expensive is something like
05:58this? And then what would be the
05:59projected savings from us
06:00gaining that forewarning?
06:02The cost of such a satellite is
06:03in the order of a few hundred
06:05millions, which is certainly
06:06an investment to be made.
06:07But if you can imagine
06:09how much you can save by
06:11protecting infrastructure on the
06:13ground and therefore minimizing
06:15damage that can happen through a
06:16solar eruption, then there's a
06:17multiple factor in between.
06:19Let me just take one example,
06:21because we do not yet have
06:22WeChill in orbit and therefore we
06:24do not yet have this information.
06:26Recently, there was a solar storm
06:28that was unexpected, which
06:30resulted in the damage
06:32of tens of satellites that have
06:33just been launched and the solar
06:35wind literally pushed it
06:37from orbit into the atmosphere
06:39and therefore they deorbited
06:40because they could not be
06:42rescued.
06:43This was unexpected and
06:44unprepared.
06:45And of course, you can imagine
06:46several tens of satellites
06:47cost much more money than
06:49one satellite necessary
06:51in order to monitor such
06:53a solar storm and therefore be
06:54well prepared.
06:55And finally, on a personal
06:57level, what are
06:58you most excited about in ESA's
07:00future?
07:01ESA is an incredibly
07:04powerful organization in terms of
07:05delivering.
07:06ESA is very efficient
07:08in terms of use of taxpayers'
07:10money and the impact it creates
07:11for the economy and for people's
07:13daily life.
07:14That is connecting people, that
07:15is driving people in the sense
07:17of giving them the navigation
07:18signals.
07:19So there I really see
07:21ESA and space in Europe
07:23to become an essential part of
07:24the future economy and the future
07:26society.
07:27And maybe in many cases
07:29not visible because it's
07:31satellites are up there and you
07:33do not know that your navigation
07:35signal needs satellites, but you
07:37use them and you rely on them.
07:38But it really will enable the
07:40functioning of our society and
07:42make Europe powerful,
07:44richer and certainly more
07:45successful.
07:46Okay, brilliant.
07:47Well, thank you so much for
07:48sharing this exciting work with me
07:49today and for joining me on The Big
07:51Question.
07:51Thank you.