The European Space Agency (esa) will send a probe closer to the sun than one has ever been before as part of a proposal formally adopted by esa member states October 4. The Solar Orbiter mission—to launch in 2017—is just one of several exciting projects planned by Europe.

On the same day, the esa also approved the Euclid telescope, which will watch galaxies to try and understand dark energy. Observations of distant galaxies suggest the universe is expanding faster than scientists expected, implying that some kind of invisible, or dark, energy is pushing it apart.

“What’s interesting from the perspective of this column,” writes bbc’s science correspondent Jonathan Amos, “is that it is Europe and not America that is launching this space mission.”

“Dark energy is one of the most pressing problems in astrophysics today and, given its role in identifying the problem, you would have thought it would be the U.S. announcing such a mission,” he writes.

esa is not an EU agency, but it receives 95.5 percent of its funding from EU member states, including nearly 20 percent of its budget that comes directly from the European Union.

nasa may spend more than esa—its annual budget is $17 billion, compared to esa’s $5.3 billion—but it’s lost and short of vision. It spent $10 billion on the Constellation program, only to cancel it. Robert Zubrin, president of The Mars Society, said that under the current plan, “nasa will spend $100 billion on human spaceflight over the next 10 years in order to accomplish nothing.”

nasa still has its share of exciting projects, but it isn’t the far-and-away leader it once was. And if America’s economy doesn’t improve (and it won’t), America won’t be able to continue to afford its current level of spending on nasa.

Space exploration is important because of its inspirational value and its military applications. Europe is perusing both. A project financed mainly by Germany is examining the possibility of landing a probe on the south pole of the moon around 2018 if things go as planned.

“The moon is the next natural goal on our common path to destinations further afield,” said esa’s director for human spaceflight, Simonetta Di Pippo. “Europe is actively and successfully present in these global projects, like iss and exploration, which contribute to affirm our role as a modern, dynamic and innovation-driven continent.”

esa is planning a joint mission with Russia to Mars, according to ria Novosti. Jean-Jacques Dordain, head of the esa, said a couple months ago that esa and the Russian Roskosmos space agency would “carry out the first flight to Mars together.”

Galileo: A Military System

On the military side, the first two satellites of Europe’s global positioning system Galileo are scheduled to launch on October 20. The project has been considered a bit of a joke, with huge delays and budget overruns, but it seems set to finally begin operation in 2014. It came close to being cancelled several times, but it was important enough for Europe that it pushed through.

Galileo was touted as a purely civilian project, in contrast to America’s military-run gps system. But under rules approved by the European Parliament, a Public Regulated Service (prs) will be available to police, emergency services and the military. Just like the gps system that the EU criticized, the EU will be able turn off most of its satellite navigation service and leave just the prs running. The prs will only be available to EU institutions and member states—other nations must receive special permission.

A 2006 assessment by the European Commission found that member states said they would use around 60,000 prs receivers for military purposes—twice as many as would be used for critical transportation systems.

German Member of the European Parliament Reinhard Bütikofer claimed the European Commission had deliberately hidden how widespread the military uses for the project were. Until March 2011, documents “did not even hint at the extent of the military uses of the project,” he said.

Whatever the EU may say about Galileo being under civilian control, it is plainly a military project no different than gps.

America hasn’t completely neglected space exploration, but its policy is in a mess. Meanwhile, Russia, Europe and China are still pushing forward. Space is a vital frontier, and other countries are set to encroach on America’s lead.

Europe has already taken the lead in particle physics. America is no longer the towering technological giant it once was.