European Rocket Launch Takes Aim at Musk's SpaceX

 

"PARIS -- A new European rocket is poised to blast into space with a mission officials here said is vitally important: reducing the region's reliance on Elon Musk and SpaceX.

Europe's satellites and military intelligence have come to depend on the U.S. company after delays and malfunctions left the continent unable to get to orbit with its own rockets. Officials fear that dependence could extend to the battlefield: SpaceX's Starlink internet service has been crucial for Ukraine to fight with Russia, fanning worries in Europe that its armies might also need Musk for satellite communications in a fight.

Governments said the Ariane 6 rocket, operated by the European consortium Arianespace, will begin to change that equation. It is set to lift off from French Guiana on Tuesday, Europe's first rocket to launch in a year.

"Clearly, we must deliver. We must restore autonomous access to space" for Europe, Stephane Israel, chief executive of Arianespace, said.

With European rockets stuck on the ground, SpaceX stepped in to fill the void. Its Falcon 9 rocket has launched all of Europe's most important satellites over the past year, including two that were supposed to be handled by Arianespace.

The most recent blow came last month when Europe's weather-satellite agency canceled a contract to launch next year with Ariane 6 and hired SpaceX instead. The decision left European space officials crestfallen, with the head of the French space agency saying: "How far will we, Europeans, go in our naivete?"

SpaceX is the leading U.S. space company, handling important missions for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and military. U.S. officials laud its prowess, but many have said they don't want to overly rely on any single contractor.

NASA, for example, has hired Boeing to conduct regular astronaut flights to and from the International Space Station, in addition to SpaceX. Boeing's first such mission was launched last month after delays and has faced technical challenges.

The rise of SpaceX has upended Europe's rocket industry and its champion, Arianespace, which used to lead the world in commercial launch services. SpaceX's mastery of reusable rocket technology has left Arianespace struggling to compete on price and more than a decade behind with its own reusable rocket.

Arianespace's Israel has said Ariane 6 will offer prices that are competitive with SpaceX's current rockets and that its new, expendable vehicle offers advantages for customers.

Musk brushed aside arguments for single-use rockets in remarks to a European tech conference in May. "Any rocket that is not at least partly reusable has no competitive chance," he said.

European nations are divided on how to respond to the rise of SpaceX.

The French government is the biggest backer of Arianespace and is aiming to keep the consortium in business amid doubts in Germany that it is still worth subsidizing. French officials said they fear the continent would be happy to let SpaceX keep launching for Europe. ArianeGroup, Arianespace's parent company, is vital to what France calls its strategic autonomy because it has a military arm that provides the rocket technology for France's nuclear arsenal.

In a sign of its commitment to Arianespace, France has refused to use SpaceX to launch a military surveillance satellite that was supposed to lift off on the new rocket in 2021. The military is waiting to launch the satellite on the first operating flight of Ariane 6, French officials said.

By contrast, Germany has used SpaceX, even for its most sensitive military-intelligence satellites. The company launched two of those in December. SpaceX, with its reusable Falcon rockets and cheap prices, appeals to Berlin's impulse to keep government spending in check.

Germany has also pushed European governments to hold a competition for European companies to design new launchers -- and possible competitors to Arianespace. France and other countries agreed in October last year, in exchange for Berlin pledging to continue funding Arianespace for the next few years.

German officials said they prefer to use European launchers, but they also take into account price and service.

"The Germans are not committed to Ariane, they just want access to space," said Marco Fuchs, chief executive of the German satellite manufacturer OHB, which has also started its own rocket company.

European concerns about relying on SpaceX extend beyond rockets. In Ukraine, Starlink has become the backbone of Ukrainian battlefield communications. That helped spur European governments to plan their own low-Earth orbit satellite constellation to provide battlefield communications in close to real time. A consortium of European companies including Airbus, Thales and OHB is aiming to win a multibillion-euro contract with the European Union to build and operate the constellation.

Earlier this year, SpaceX executives met European lawmakers and proposed the company launch those satellites while seeking other business with Europe." [1]

It turns out that Germany's new function in geopolitics is to curb the ambitions of the French, by which the Germans help America, in exchange for receiving forgiveness from America for underspending on NATO defense.

1. European Rocket Launch Takes Aim at Musk's SpaceX. Dalton, Matthew; Maidenberg, Micah.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 08 July 2024: B.1.