(VOVworld)- Brexit negotiations with the UK are forcing the European Commission to postpone funding for its space program until after 2020, despite the importance of the program to European space policy.

Tesla founder Elon Musk's SpaceX pioneered the technology of reusable rockets.[Steve Jurvetson/Flickr]

The world is embarking on a new space race. But this time, the top contenders are not the two global superpowers of the past century but entrepreneurs. Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and Space X, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, are competing neck and neck to clinch the ‘holy grail’ of space policy – reusable rockets.

Fearing being left behind, Europe has finally decided to enter the race. Philippe Brunet, Director of the European Commission’s Internal Market, Industry and Entrepreneurship Directorate (DG Growth), said the group is seeking funding but the funding proposal will be part of the EU’s next long term budget for 2021-2027. He told a conference on European Space Policy that Brexit negotiations are making it difficult to consider channeling existing funds to a Space project. The Commission intends to make a proposal before the end of 2017.

After decades of trials and millions of dollars spent on rocket launches, Musk and Bezos have finally succeeded in launching a rocket capable of landing back on earth. Rockets are by far the most expensive part of space missions so the ability to reuse them would dramatically cut down costs, opening a new era of space exploration and interplanetary travel. Space X is already deploying satellites using this technology. Blue Origin has unveiled a new generation of reusable rockets capable of flying missions beyond a low Earth orbit. China started testing reusable rockets last spring. Europe is lagging far behind the US in this area. Few European groups are working on reusable rockets, and their results have been negligible. Companies are highly dependent on public funding in Europe where the venture capital market is still small.