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The issue is that Europe does not have the market for a reusable rocket and though there are a few initiatives for creating one, the current policy is for maint

The issue is that Europe does not have the market for a reusable rocket and though there are a few initiatives for creating one, the current policy is for maintaining launch capability for only a few satellites yearly. If the EU decides to make One Web truly massive, things might change.

JumpCrisscross 7mo ago
> issue is that Europe does not have the market for a reusable rocket SpaceX launched more European payloads in 2025 than European launch providers did. > the current policy is for maintaining launch capability for only a few satellites yearly The current policy is for throwing employment money at Arianespace. It's the situation America would have been if we were still stuck with ULA.
- gostsamo 7mo ago
  Were those payloads enough to pay for a second SpaceX though? And could such a company compete on price with SpaceX if it is created? TBH, Musk made his space market, but the only one capable of creating EuroSpace is Trump.
  - JumpCrisscross 7mo ago
    > Were those payloads enough to pay for a second SpaceX though? Today, probably not. When SpaceX announced "Falcon 5 and Falcon 9" as "the world’s first launch vehicles where all stages are designed for reuse" [1], the world was launching 55 payloads a year globally [2]. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20080815163222/http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=18 https://web.archive.org/web/20080815163222/http://www.spacex... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_in_spaceflight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_in_spaceflight
panick21_ 7mo ago
Its true that Europe doesn't have the market, but this also not the reason. The real reason is that when Ariane 6 started they were competing against 2014 Falcon 9. And they designed a rocket to potentially beat Falcon 9 in 2014 and also still do the job of Ariane 5. The design of Ariane 6 quite literally was to 'win commercial launches'. Europe always knew they don't have enough launches, so they need to win other launches. Of course they have now adopted the solution of simply paying Amazon money so they launch on European rockets. So not only is the rocket insanely expensive, they are so desperate to get launches they are paying the US to pull ahead even further in space, while Europe stays backwards while still spending lots of money. This is literally a slow moving disaster of policy we have observed over the last 15 years (arguably longer).

JumpCrisscross 7mo ago

> issue is that Europe does not have the market for a reusable rocket SpaceX launched more European payloads in 2025 than European launch providers did. > the current policy is for maintaining launch capability for only a few satellites yearly The current policy is for throwing employment money at Arianespace. It's the situation America would have been if we were still stuck with ULA.

gostsamo 7mo ago
Were those payloads enough to pay for a second SpaceX though? And could such a company compete on price with SpaceX if it is created? TBH, Musk made his space market, but the only one capable of creating EuroSpace is Trump.
- JumpCrisscross 7mo ago
  > Were those payloads enough to pay for a second SpaceX though? Today, probably not. When SpaceX announced "Falcon 5 and Falcon 9" as "the world’s first launch vehicles where all stages are designed for reuse" [1], the world was launching 55 payloads a year globally [2]. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20080815163222/http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=18 https://web.archive.org/web/20080815163222/http://www.spacex... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_in_spaceflight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_in_spaceflight

panick21_ 7mo ago

Its true that Europe doesn't have the market, but this also not the reason. The real reason is that when Ariane 6 started they were competing against 2014 Falcon 9. And they designed a rocket to potentially beat Falcon 9 in 2014 and also still do the job of Ariane 5. The design of Ariane 6 quite literally was to 'win commercial launches'. Europe always knew they don't have enough launches, so they need to win other launches. Of course they have now adopted the solution of simply paying Amazon money so they launch on European rockets. So not only is the rocket insanely expensive, they are so desperate to get launches they are paying the US to pull ahead even further in space, while Europe stays backwards while still spending lots of money. This is literally a slow moving disaster of policy we have observed over the last 15 years (arguably longer).