Spaceflight 🚀🇪🇺 The announced delay ⏳🥱 of #Ariane6 left #SpaceX as the only viable alternative https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-signs-security-deal-us-launch-satellite-spacex-elon-musk/
The #EuropeanUnion 🇪🇺 announced plans to launch 170 #satellites 🛰️ into #orbit between 2025 and 2027 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/15/billionaire-space-race-can-bezoss-project-kuiper-catch-up-to-musks-starlink
Launched 🚀 by... ?
Mostly Ariane, the price doesn't matter
> 50% SpaceX
ULA
ISRO
Poll ended at .
"Ambitious but achievable. Always. Of course, big dreams 💭 must always be kept within the bounds of what is technically feasible and financially 💰 affordable." https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Saturn_s_moon_Enceladus_top_target_for_ESA
🤔 So they won't launch it with #Ariane6 as of the #LaunchCost ? 🙄
Saturn's moon Enceladus top target for ESA
A fresh, icy crust hides a deep, enigmatic ocean. Plumes of water burst through cracks in the ice, shooting into space. An intrepid lander collects samples and analyses them for hints of life.ESA has started to turn this scene into a reality, devising a mission to investigate an ocean world around either Jupiter or Saturn. But which moon should we choose? What should the mission do exactly? A team of expert scientists has delivered their findings.
The lack of #competition has made it difficult to hash out a competitive offer with the #EU 🇪🇺 https://www.politico.eu/article/iris-2-eu-satellite-project-germany-delay/
#Monopolies tend to become less efficient and less innovative over time, becoming "complacent", because they do not have to be efficient or innovative to compete in the marketplace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly#Monopoly_and_efficiency
#France 🇫🇷 and #Germany 🇩🇪 fund the majority of the Ariane 6 rocket's development costs. So, by rule, most of the design and manufacturing of the #Ariane6 rocket must take place in those nations. This strangles #competition among subcontractors and suppliers. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/05/europe-seeks-to-emulate-nasas-revolutionary-commercial-cargo-program/2/
People writing about #SpaceExploration are mostly cheerleaders 🥳 for the cause, rather than independent observers 🔬 keeping a watchful eye 👁️ on how our national monies 💰 are spent. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2022/06/23/new-book-paints-bleak-picture-of-nasas-human-spaceflight-program/
Former Deputy #NASA Administrator #LoriGarver
#Eutmetsat was not willing to entrust its new Meteosat #satellite 🛰️ to #Europe's 🇪🇺 #Ariane6 https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/mere-days-before-its-debut-the-ariane-6-rocket-loses-a-key-customer-to-spacex/
"The model of supply and demand applies to various markets" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand
One might think that #European 🇪🇺 launch officials would have learned their lesson. But not everyone got 🦻 the message. The #Ariane6 will cost 💰 significantly more 📈 than the #Falcon9 rocket, which has similar capabilities. It likely will not realistically compete with a fully reusable Falcon 9. To say #Starship will not be a game-changer represents the same head-in-the-sand attitude displayed a decade ago. These officials #ignored 🙈🙉🙊 the rise of #reusability https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/some-european-launch-officials-still-have-their-heads-stuck-in-the-sand
notsoloud@spaceflight
But Ariane 6 must go on anyway, no global power can go without domestic launch capability.
The question is who will be the first to copy just 20% of what SpaceX is doing?
@notsoloud the question is "whatever the price" ? 🤔 Japan already did it better, India too
@spaceflight
National security, whatever the price.
National security, whatever the price.