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European Spaceflight (self.spaceflight)

submitted 3 days ago by witx to c/spaceflight@sh.itjust.works

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So what is your opinion on the European companies? Which ones do you think will thrive and why?

It might be a bit early but I've been going over the companies and I cannot form a solid opinion.

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[–] witx 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And do you think all these new companies (RFA, PLD and Isar) will thrive? Is it the case that Europe cannot let any of them fail and thus will try to "keep them afloat"? I personally see it very risky to have just one, or two, companies with a newer mentally (as opposed to Ariane et al which I see as more conservative and unable to even try to keep up with American companies)

[–] burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago

There are way too many small rockets in development, so they can't all make it. Europe still benefits from "domestic" launch capabilities, so they'll prop some up, but they don't need a dozen. Anything less than 1000kg to LEO seems like misplaced effort at this point, which is why I left off some really small launchers (Orbex, Skyrora, Hyimpulse, etc).

Ariane might be able to follow ULA and stay relevant until reusable rockets knock them out of the market, which will take longer to happen in Europe. Ariane 6 launching consistently is good, but that can't be enough.