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Europe starting to freak out about dominance of SpaceX
Europe is starting to freak out about the launch dominance of SpaceX [arstechnica.com]
The Falcon 9 has come to dominate commercial satellite launches.
A little more than a week ago, the European Space Agency 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.
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. [ . . . ]
It would seem that ESA's payback plan didn't expect an agile competitor to disrupt the entire market with efficiencies governments seem unable to match.
Then there is this . . .
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet in talks for a place in the UK’s $6.9 billion ‘Project Gigabit’ [cnbc.com]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is in talks with the United Kingdom for the company’s Starlink satellite unit to potentially to earn funding as a part of the government’s new $6.9 billion internet infrastructure program, CNBC confirmed.
But of course, brexit.
