Following the landing of the Philae lander on 12 November, Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs ElżbietaBieńkowska congratulated the European Space Agency and the Member States that participate in the Rosetta mission and the Philae lander.
“The Rosetta mission represents an immense step in space science and space exploration and will no doubt help us understand better the fabric of our Solar System. It has already started to provide invaluable data for our scientists to exploit in the future and we are awaiting further details by the ESA on the state of play and next steps of the Philae lander by the ESA,” Bieńkowska said.
“The EU attaches the greatest importance to space science and exploration as it lays down the foundations for further space activities from where ever deeper scientific knowledge as well as concrete benefits for citizens are derived. Space exploration is an engine for innovation creating synergies between space and non-space sectors that generate benefits to citizens,” she added.
“The EU also considers essential to further develop European exploration capacities as they represent an enormous potential not just for future space exploration missions but also to service space infrastructures and contribute to activities in space in general.
“For these reasons the Horizon 2020 Space provides financial support to projects in the fields of space exploration and science as well as space robotics. Some 30 million euros will be allocated to projects in these fields in 2014 and 2015, including in 2015 the possibility to support data exploitation from the Rosetta mission,” Bieńkowska said.
