From our special envoy in Washington,
When your relationship is falling apart, sometimes you need space. This is what France and the United States have been doing – quite literally – in recent months. After the Aukus crisis, linked to the termination of the submarine contract for Australia, orchestrated by Washington, “space has played an important role in the reconstruction of the Franco-American relationship” recently, assures Nicolas Maubert, space adviser of the French Embassy.
We understand better why Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to the US this week includes a strong space “sequence”. The president is notably accompanied by Thomas Pesquet and the new French astronaut, Sophie Adenot. They will meet this Wednesday with Kamala Harris, the vice president, who oversees these issues at the federal government level.
Europe on the Moon?
To illustrate this “golden age” – it is heard locally – of space cooperation between the two countries, the journalists following the French delegation were invited on Tuesday to a visit to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Maryland, three-quarters of an hour from the federal capital. Symbolic: it is the very first center built by NASA, in the 1950s. The French scientists who work with the Americans were out there, and the others never stop praising the “of Paris”. “The United States recognizes that France is one of the few countries that has mastered everything in space: scientific, commercial and military,” explains Nicolas Maubert.
Indeed, this cooperation is nothing new. The Center for Space Studies (Cnes), created in 1961, collaborated very quickly with NASA, born two years earlier. And in this Goddard center in Maryland, “the French came for several months to understand how a space program is managed…”, recalls Nicolas Maubert. According to him, the sending of the first French satellite in 1965 is directly linked to this collaboration. More recently, Donald Trump has relaunched the US space program, with the horizon of a return to the moon. “The United States accounts for 60% of the world’s space budget, so there is inevitably a knock-on effect,” the attaché describes.
Enthusiastic, he also made the public dream: what if, thanks to this space “bromance”, the first European to set foot on lunar soil had been a Frenchman? After all, it is the importance of the contributions that seats on the ship offers. We are not there yet, especially since Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom can make the same arguments. Be that as it may, this is the story that Emmanuel Macron wants to tell during this state visit: that of an excellent relationship with the United States, which has positive implications. A sort of “diplomatic cascade theory”.
The ally who must “deal with”
Except that the relaunch of the American space program – pursued by Joe Biden – cuts off the croupiers in France and Europe in their field of excellence: space launchers. This is the case, in particular, of Elon Musk’s private Space X program, heavily subsidized by the American federal government. “We have to compose,” Nicolas Maubert finally acknowledges when the question is raised. We like to talk about ”coopetition” among us…” The “golden age” shines less.
So yes, France and the United States cooperate a lot on major scientific and exploratory topics – and it was above all the one discussed on Tuesday in Maryland -, on the fight against climate change and on the still very weak regulation of space activities. “The stakes are huge,” says Nicolas Maubert. And the presence of a space adviser at the French embassy in Washington is nothing. But in industries that can pay off in the end, friendship has its limits.
And this is undoubtedly an image of the current relationship between Paris and Washington. Sure, it’s good, very good indeed. And this third state visit in ten years for a French president proves it, whatever one may say. But on space as on inflation, energy, protectionism or the Aukus, the United States has its own interests. And France, its “oldest ally”, will have to “compose”.
