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The Interfederal
Space Agency of Belgium (ISAB) will be set up next year, science
minister Elke Sleurs said, arguing that it would help a local
industry hang on to what is now a 5-percent share of the EU's 7
billion-euro a year space industry.
Challenges from the likes of rising powers India and China and
changing rules for EU-wide tenders meant Belgium should pool
resources to help its companies compete, she said: "If we just
keep the status quo, we risk losing out on space contracts."
About 60 firms in the local sector include the 96-year-old
SABCA, which has worked on Europe's Ariane rocket program.
Images from Tintin space stories, starting with "Destination
Moon" in 1950, have become Belgian national treasures and fed
popular fascination worldwide with cosmic adventure. A single
original drawing by his creator Herge from 1954's "Explorers on
the Moon" sold last week in Paris for 1.55 million euros.
(Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Alastair Macdonald
and Andrew Heavens)
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