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from the government-efficiency-vs-private-enterprise-disruption dept.
Europe is starting to freak out about the launch dominance of SpaceX:
A little more than a week ago, the European Space Agency[(ESA)] announced an initiative to study "future space transportation solutions." Basically, the agency provided about $600,000, each, to three companies—ArianeGroup, Avio, and Rocket Factory Augsburg—to study competitive launch systems from 2030 onward.
[...] there now appears to be increasing concern in Europe that the Ariane 6 and Vega-C rockets will not be competitive in the launch market of the near future. This is important, because while member states of the European Space Agency pay for development of the rockets, after reaching operational status, these launch programs are expected to become self-sufficient by attracting commercial satellite launches to help pay the bills.
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.
It would seem that ESA's payback plan didn't expect an agile competitor to disrupt the entire market with efficiencies that governments seem unable to match. But, there's more.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet in talks for a place in the UK’s $6.9 billion ‘Project Gigabit’:
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is in talks with the United Kingdom for the company’s Starlink satellite unit to potentially earn funding as a part of the government’s new $6.9 billion internet infrastructure program, CNBC confirmed.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Wednesday March 24 2021, @08:23AM (1 child)
I cannot really judge the bureaucracy but there is politics as well. IMO this is what makes Europe so ineffective. Nothing can move forward without consent from all involved countries, especially financial interests which makes projects sluggish and expensive. As a recent example look at the vaccine procurement in Europe. Companies don't take the European commission seriously as they know the internal bickering will bail them out. ESA is another prime example: campuses all over Europe, strict financial per country quotas, no political accountability.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Wednesday March 24 2021, @09:55AM
Boeing is another prime example: campuses all over US, strict financial per state quotas, no political accountability.