Europe is starting to freak out about the launch dominance of SpaceX

[crimsonaudio]

Economic ministers in France and Italy have now concluded that the launch market has changed dramatically since 2014, when the Ariane 6 and Vega-C rockets were first designed. According to a report in Le Figaro newspaper, the ministers believe the ability of these new European rockets to compete for commercial launch contracts has significantly deteriorated since then.

The primary cause? SpaceX. Thanks to its reusable, low-cost Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX has been able to slash prices for large commercial satellites that could be lofted by the Ariane 6. Whereas Europe's Ariane vehicles once played a dominant role in launching geostationary satellites, they've lost considerable market share since 2014. Moreover, through its rideshare program for the Falcon 9, SpaceX also threatens to take missions away from Vega-C, which has a lift capacity of about 1.5 tons to polar orbit.

As the newspaper reports, Europe now lags behind SpaceX in other key ways. Because of its partnership with NASA, SpaceX can now launch astronauts. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, in fact, is a mission specialist on the Crew-2 mission due to launch next month. He will likely be the first of many European astronauts to reach space on a SpaceX vehicle. Europe also presently has no answer to the Starlink megaconstellation that SpaceX is in the midst of launching—either in the capacity to build hundreds of satellites a year or affordably get them into orbit.

Europe is starting to freak out about the launch dominance of SpaceX

Not a shock, but good to see SpaceX shaking things up.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Great comment below the article:

Friendly reminder to readers: the first successful Falcon 9 landing was on December 21, 2015.

When SpaceX announced plans to pursue reusability years before that date, that should have been a serious warning and caused European [as well as US manufacturers] to reconsider their long-term space launch plans.

The first successful landing should have triggered immediate action to adjust plans.

The fact they're realizing there's a problem after over five years after the first successful landing is... Staggeringly out of date.

 

[CoolBreeze]

When funded properly, private enterprise will always dominate government run entities.

 

[B1GTide]

Anyone who has studied the engineering around rockets understands why the world was skeptical of SpaceX's plans for a reusable rocket. Taking off and maintaining trajectory is hard - landing on a moving platform at sea is impossibly hard. SpaceX does that on the regular.

Without the help of SpaceX or their engineers, the rest of the world may never catch up.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Anyone who has studied the engineering around rockets understands why the world was skeptical of SpaceX's plans for a reusable rocket. Taking off and maintaining trajectory is hard - landing on a moving platform at sea is impossibly hard. SpaceX does that on the regular.

Without the help of SpaceX or their engineers, the rest of the world may never catch up.

The rest of the world is literally a decade behind and has nowhere near the funding SpaceX has now.

This was predicted.

 

[Bazza]

Love these kinds of stories about our country's advancements......please keep 'em coming......

 

[Elefantman]

SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink Launch Mistaken for Comet Shooting Across the Sky

The rocket left an eerie blue glow that confused onlookers and could be seen across multiple states.

www.newsweek.com

The Falcon 9 left an unusual vapor trail on its last launch last Sunday morning. This photo was taken at 41,000 ft over the pan handle of Florida about an hour after the launch.

 

[Bazza]

From here......

 

[Saint&Sinner]

Anyone who has studied the engineering around rockets understands why the world was skeptical of SpaceX's plans for a reusable rocket. Taking off and maintaining trajectory is hard - landing on a moving platform at sea is impossibly hard. SpaceX does that on the regular.

Without the help of SpaceX or their engineers, the rest of the world may never catch up.

This is so sweet. When US space funding shifted to private companies I was uncertain how well it would turn out (having grown up idolizing NASA).