Munich

Aurora, the European Space Agency's planetary exploration programme, may find itself in difficulties as France and Germany proved reluctant to support it last week.

Representatives of the agency's member states, meeting in Paris, heard that it had obtained commitments of between €25 million (US$31 million) and €30 million. This is about half what the agency thought it would need to keep the programme going until it starts in earnest in 2006.

The shortfall is due to notable absences among the countries that have pitched in: Germany, in particular, has decided to withhold funding completely.

Europe is winding down its contribution to the International Space Station, and will instead focus on Aurora. The aim for the programme is to ensure that Europe maintains expertise in cutting-edge space technologies, so it can be an equal partner in any future international planetary exploration projects.

Launched in 2001, Aurora's preliminary projects are being updated in line with recent findings. Its long-term continuation must be approved by the agency's ministerial council at the end of next year.

Germany and France are the largest contributors to the European Space Agency (ESA). Together they account for more than half of its total budget: Germany paid 41% of Europe's bill for the International Space Station, for example. Costs for that project have hugely overrun, and Germany is still paying out. Together with France, Germany has also had to provide much of the increasingly hefty subsidy for Ariane launchers — the boosters that provide Europe with independent access to space. This independence from other agencies is fundamental to ESA policy.

Against this backdrop, Germany has decided to contribute nothing to Aurora. France has pledged a maximum of only €2 million and may also decide to give nothing when it makes its final decisions on financing at the end of this year. This puts Aurora in the uncomfortable position of being unsupported by ESA's two main players.

Surprisingly, Italy — the third largest contributor to ESA — has taken the lead and offered Aurora up to €14 million (see Nature 431, 619; 200410.1038/431619b).

“We would like Germany to be able to join eventually, and hope for a higher contribution from France,” says Aurora's director Daniel Sacotte, based at ESA's research and technology centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

There are a few years yet for countries to change their minds. The first Aurora mission — a rover called ExoMars — is expected to launch no earlier than 2011. To fund this and other projects, Sacotte hopes for an annual budget of €200 million. But this could be extremely optimistic if major contributors do not jump back on board.

Scientists at Germany's space agency, the DLR, say that it is unlikely the country will be able to contribute to Aurora any time soon, as problems with the International Space Station continue.