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Esa rejects €850m infrared space telescope proposal

Dutch space agency stunned as plans for EU-Japanese collaboration deemed too expensive

The European Space Agency is to withdraw Spica, a European-Japanese infrared telescope collaboration with close involvement from the Netherlands, from the final round of a mission call, Research Netherlands can reveal.

In 2018, Spica was selected as one of three final candidates to launch on Esa’s M5 rocket mission, which has a budget of €550 million. The Netherlands Institute for Space Research had brokered a deal with Jaxa, the Japanese space agency, to invest another €300m.

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