European Space Agency secures record 22 billion euro budget

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced Thursday it had secured a budget of 22.1 billion euros to fund its programmes for the next three years, as the continent aims to ramp up its space efforts.

The amount is five billion euros more than the ESA's 23 member states committed in 2022 -- and is almost all of the 22.2-billion-euro budget proposed by the agency. The ESA, which is 50 years old this year, coordinates civil space projects between its member countries and also works with European Union bodies.

The ESA said this week that NASA has confirmed it will contribute to Europe's Martian rover Rosalind Franklin. The mission is scheduled to launch in 2028 aiming to probe the surface of Mars for signs of extraterrestrial life.