While countries in Europe have been slashing budgets, one area has not just escaped the ax but chalked up a stellar jump: space exploration.

The European Space Agency, which Monday was to launch its €1.3 billion ($1.45 billion) ExoMars mission to outrace the U.S. in the search for evidence of life on the red planet, has seen its budget expand 75 percent since 2008, unscathed by the region's sovereign debt crisis.

The project, which draws contributions from individual member nations, has become a rare force of unity in a region that is struggling with an unprecedented refugee crisis, a potential British exit from the European Union and an unresolved conflict between Ukraine and Russia.