The European Space Agency said Thursday it would increase its budget for the next three years to almost 22.1 billion euros ($25.6 billion).

Ahead of two-day agency conference starting Thursday in the German city of Bremen, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher had expressed concern that Europe could be left behind in space travel if it didn’t invest more money, German news agency dpa reported.

On Thursday, Aschbacher thanked ESA’s 23 European member states for their contributions.

“I think the message that Europe must catch up and get involved in order to literally give wings to Europe’s future through space travel was taken very seriously by our ministers,” he said.

Germany, one of ESA’s main financial contributors, said it plans to significantly increase its budget for the agency to

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