Europe’s Launch Fault Line Splits the Continent

France, Germany, and Italy – the European pillars of launch expertise – have agreed to Earth-shattering policy changes that will redefine space access throughout Europe. The European Space Agency (ESA) member nations are, for the first time, sanctioning the sale of launch services from Avio (Italian builder of the Vega rocket) separately from Arianespace. And perhaps most encouragingly, ESA is organizing an open launch competition, the “Launcher Challenge,” that will be unbound from the longstanding policy of “geographic return.”

The implications for Arianespace are huge. Europe has long federated government demand and private-sector launch activity under the company, with the output being sovereign access to space for the 22-nation ESA members. But that foundation grew increasingly shaky amid Italy’s belief that Arianespace wasn’t prioritizing Vega and Germany’s belief that its launch startups – most notably Isar Aerospace and RFA Space – should get a chance to compete unconstrained by regional politics.

ESA has long thwarted attacks on geo-return because it’s central to how the agency operates: nations contribute funds to ESA programs, which are then built in their respective lands. This policy, among other things, obliged European government satellites to launch on Arianespace rockets, which are built mainly across France, Germany, and Italy, with small contributions from other ESA member states. If future launch contracts openly compete, and the policy of geo-return is set aside, new European launch companies could position themselves to unseat Arianespace as the de facto launcher for the continent.

Such a change won’t happen anytime soon. European ministers, in the same breath, pledged to spend up to €340M annually to subsidize Ariane 6 from 2026-2029. After spending more than €4B on development, ESA will naturally seek to extract value from its hefty investment, but the looming fracture of the European launch market may just enable innovative companies to challenge the Ariane 6.

SOURCE: https://europeanspaceflight.com/arianegroup-to-receive-e340m-per-year-to-operate-ariane-6/