BERLIN, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Federation of German Industries (BDI) called on the German government on Friday to "massively" increase investments in the country's national space programs.
In order to create the conditions for the construction of a private operated space port, the German industry group suggested ramping up the German space budget from 285 million euros (317 million U.S. dollars) to more than 700 million euros.
"The strength of Germany as a high-tech center is not reflected in the government's space investments," BDI president Dieter Kempf said.
Germany only ranked eighth in an international comparison of national space investments, the BDI noted. These investments would only account for 0.05 percent of Germany's gross domestic product (GDP).
The German industry already had a "core competence in space travel that is unique in the world," said Kempf, referring to German companies that were the leading manufacturers of the European service module for the American spacecraft Orion.
