The European Space Agency (ESA) and French Space Agency CNES are to invest €1 billion into the spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana over the next three years and with a 2-year potential extension.

The agreement was announced on May 18th and follows on from the core agreement between Europe’s member states in ESA in November last year.

CNES is the second-largest contributor to ESA’s 2026-2028 budget (Germany is the largest).

The investment will help refurbish an abandoned launch pad at the spaceport. This 1.2 square km site will then be able to handle six startup launchers and six launch pads. This will permit and boost smaller rocket launches.

ESA is deliberately looking to expand Europe’s launch capability via its European Launcher Challenge.

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Tags: ESA, funding, rocket