PARIS, May 5 (Reuters) - The European Space Agency said

on Monday it was studying the impact of U.S. budget proposals

that include cuts to NASA moon programmes in which it has a

role, and said it remained open to cooperation with the U.S.

space agency.

Ministers from ESA's governing council will discuss

"potential actions and alternative scenarios" at a meeting in

June, the 22-nation European agency said in a statement.

U.S. budget outlines released on Friday called for phasing

out NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion crew

vehicle, which includes a key service module supplied by

Europe's Airbus on behalf of ESA.

The White House has called SLS and Orion "grossly

expensive" and says they have far exceeded their budgets.

The budget summary also called for halting the planned

Gateway lunar-orbit platform, which would play a key part in

future Artemis moon missions and includes elements to be built

by Franco-Italian Thales Alenia Space.

ESA said the U.S. budget proposals were a "work in

progress," but it has begun discussing the implications with

NASA.

"ESA remains open to cooperation with NASA on the

programmes earmarked for a reduction or termination, but is

nevertheless assessing the impact with our member states in

preparation for ESA's June Council," the statement said.

In that meeting, on June 11-12, ESA and its member

states will assess "potential actions and alternative scenarios"

for the relevant ESA programmes and European industry, it added,

without elaborating on other possible options.

The Artemis program, launched during President Donald

Trump's first administration, aims to return humans to the moon

and use the exercise as a testbed for later Mars missions. It

involves dozens of private companies and countries, including

European countries.

The cuts would affect Orion's European Space Module,

which manoeuvres the spacecraft and supplies water and oxygen.

According to manufacturer Airbus, it is the first time NASA has

granted a non-U.S. firm such a critical role in human

spaceflight.

European contributions to Gateway include an inhabited

module known as Lunar I-Hab built by Thales Alenia Space, the

Lunar View observation and logistics module led by the same

company, and a communications set-up called Lunar Link.

The U.S. and ESA signed a Gateway agreement in 2020

outlining Europe's contributions to the project, modeled largely

on the U.S. agreement with Europe on the International Space

Station.

Airbus and Thales did not immediately respond to

requests for comment.