The toughest debate among European Space Agency (ESA) government ministers during their Nov. 25-26 conference here concerned not the many new programs ESA wants to pursue, but rather its biggest ongoing commitment: the international space station.rnAs is true of many ESA programs, the debate concerned essentially Germany, France and Italy, the agency's three biggest contributors.rnAt issue was ESA's proposal to spend 1.376 billion euros ($1.73 billion) between 2009 and 2012 on space station utilization, mainly for the construction of four unmanned Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) cargo carriers.rnESA has agreed to pay NASA for ESA's share of the station's operating costs not in cash, but in hardware contributions, including ATV missions. Under the agreement with NASA, ESA owes four ATV missions between 2010 and 2015. If the station's operational life is extended to 2020, as many ex-pect will occur, ESA will owe NASA additional flights in return for its access to 8.3 percent of the station's resources.
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