The 22 member states of the European Space Agency (ESA) agreed to the largest funding boost of about $16 billion towards the agency¡¯s budget for the next five years. Germany, France, and Italy gave the most money.

The ESA director-general said that the ESA¡¯s climate change program received more money than expected due to increased interest in climate change. The program observes Earth. He said that since people want their leaders to do something about climate change, this program will help them know what to do.

Other ESA projects are to work with NASA to send a rover to Mars and get samples, bring back old satellites and other objects from Earth from space, and send the first European astronaut to the moon.