German Government, Germany will continue to play a major role in the development of cutting-edge technologies and aerospace research will figure prominently in these efforts.
On Tuesday, May 2, Chancellor Angela Merkel was guest of honor at a ceremony held by EADS Space Transportation in Bremen, in which the company officially handed over to the European Space Agency (ESA) the Columbus laboratory module it spent the past ten years building for the International Space Station (ISS). After that she traveled to Arnstadt in the State of Thuringia to attend a foundation-stone-laying ceremony for a new engine overhaul facility being built by Lufthansa and Rolls-Royce.
Engineering feat
Speaking at the ceremony in Bremen, Merkel wished the laboratory module a safe trip into orbit. At the same time, she appealed to the international aerospace industry to work together for the benefit of mankind. “The Columbus laboratory is proof of the engineering feats the aerospace industry is capable of,” she observed.
Columbus is a manned laboratory for carrying out experiments in a number of different areas including physics, materials research, and the biosciences. Following its handover to ESA the laboratory module will be placed aboard a Beluga transport aircraft and flown from Bremen to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
There it will undergo a series of tests in preparation for its 400 kilometer flight out to the International Space Station, scheduled to take place in October 2007
Site for new facility chosen in eastern Germany
Later the same day Merkel joined Thuringian State Premier Dieter Althaus in Arnstadt to take part in a foundation-stone-laying ceremony for a new engine overhaul facility being built there by Lufthansa and Rolls-Royce to provide maintenance services for Airbus A380 engines.
Merkel noted that the decision taken by the two companies to locate the new facility in Arnstadt underscores the ability of Germany's eastern states to compete internationally, adding that this part of the country has developed outstanding competence with regard to the development, production, and maintenance of aircraft engines.
Government support of innovation
The German government is doing what it can to promote technological development and international competitiveness of the aerospace industry:
–Under a new program 160 million euros will be provided for aviation research by the end of 2009, constituting a significant increase over past funding for this purpose.
–The government strongly advocates fair conditions in transatlantic and international competition between aircraft manufacturers and among airlines.
–National space program funding will be increased from 166 million euros in 2006 to 210 million euros in 2009.
–The German contribution to the ESA budget will be increased from 552 million euros in 2006 to 591 million euros in 2009.
–The government advocates proportionate involvement of German industry in the production and operation of the Galileo satellite system.
The government has put in place a reliable framework for innovation and the creation of new jobs in the aerospace industry as shown by the German contribution to ESA's Mars Express mission as well as German involvement in the development and production of the A380.
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