Prague, July 29 (CTK) – The Czech government approved on Wednesday a raising of the contribution the country pays for its membership of the European Space Agency (ESA) by 200 million crowns annually, the Transport Ministry’s spokesman Tomas Nerold has told CTK.
The Czech Republic now contributes 375 million crowns to space research, which is the lowest amount of all ESA member countries, the ministry said.
The Transport Ministry said in its proposal for the raising of the contribution that ESA membership is the country’s major instrument of influencing and developing space activities and of participating in space projects.
The ministry wrote that the contributions to space technologies research are returned in the form of a higher employment in domestic firms focusing on the development of technologies applicable in space.
The Czech transport and education ministries provide money for the ESA membership contribution.
The GNSS agency dealing with the development of the European satellite system Galileo seated in Prague is a part of the ESA.
