On the eve of the International Day of Human Space Flight, April 12, Bulgarian Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski and Eric Morel de Westgaver from the European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement on Bulgaria’s accession to the Agency by the end of the year. The country will become a “cooperating state” with a 5 year plan leading up to its full membership. Over this period it will pay around EUR 1.3 million in annual membership fees while Bulgarian companies and research institutes will be able to work on Agency programmes worth an annual EUR 3 billion. Ninety percent of the annual membership contribution will be channeled towards projects by Bulgarian companies, educational establishments or institutes, Minister Lukarski said and added:

“The categories of activities covered by this plan include: technologies and equipment, science projects and experiments, use of data and support for SMEs. For the endorsement of the 5 year plan, the Agency drafted a special instrument that will enable Bulgaria to assume financial commitments, by setting down the activities the country will be funding. I appeal to businesses and to the scientific community to take an active part with projects of their own and to make the most of the major opportunities the agreement we signed today offers.”

The EU has allocated some EUR 12 billion for its space programmes Galileo and Copernicus for the 2014-2020 period, with 75 percent of this sum coming from the European Space Agency.

Bulgaria’s space exploration history goes back 40 years, with the launch of two satellites, two astronauts in space as well as involvement in different experiments and programmes.

According to Prof. Petar Getsov, Director of the Space Research and Technologies Institute, the country’s joining the Agency has been on the agenda for some 10-15 years and the delay was due to the need to assume a financial commitment or membership contribution.

Before the cooperation agreement was signed, Bulgarian companies and research organizations had no direct access to the ESA programmes. Nonetheless they have taken part in a number of projects as sub-contractors. One such project is the ExoMars robot, similar to NASA’s Curiosity Rover, which will be launched by the European Space Agency, said for Radio Bulgaria Prof. Getsov and added:

“By way of sideline projects much of our equipment is now functioning in outer space, on board different Russian, American and European satellites. This includes space radiation gauging instruments, a sphere in which we have traditions going back a long time. We have had Bulgarian equipment on the international space station since 2005. The country has been very successful in remote control methods. We recently completed the Corine Land Cover – a project the Space Research and Technologies Institute has been working on in conjunction with the European Commission for monitoring water and the different land cover tendencies.”

The signing of the agreement with the European Space Agency provides Bulgarian companies and research organizations with direct access to the programmes the Agency finances.

English version: Milena Daynova