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These arguments about not risking losing capability and training a workforce are worn out, ArianeSpace's insistence on not earnestly working to innovate led to
by dotnet00 2y ago
These arguments about not risking losing capability and training a workforce are worn out, ArianeSpace's insistence on not earnestly working to innovate led to them already having had a gap in domestic capability. Similarly, they're just maintaining the workforce at great expense, but the private space booms in the US and China are actively growing the workforce on the back of mostly private capital.
On top of that, it isn't as if ArianeSpace is just acting as a stopgap until a private provider is ready, they're actively opposing the rise of private providers. They're even lobbying to choke the European satellite industry by forcing them to be restricted to European launchers, regardless of availability or capability.
- leeter 2y ago> ArianeSpace's insistence on not earnestly working to innovate led to them already having had a gap in domestic capability Yes and no, there are plenty of EU space startups. What Ariane has done is starve them of government funding to build a competitive EU based market. So I'd say it's drawing the investment into a hole. Just a quick sample of EU space firms I'm aware of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Factory_Augsburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Factory_Augsburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isar_Aerospace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isar_Aerospace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyImpulse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyImpulse
- dotnet00 2y agoYeah that's what I mean, Ariane isn't just standing in for something the market has no solution for, they're actively trying to stifle the solutions the market is working on. By gap in domestic capability I'm referring to how various ESA launches had to be shifted to Falcon 9 due to the retirement of Ariane 5, the delays to Ariane 6 and the already booked manifest for Ariane 6.