Since 2014 SpaceX has taken a huge part of the commercial satellite launch business from the ESA. Since that time it’s been clear SpaceX is winning the space race.
It was Europe’s Ariane rockets were once launching satellites. Now even with the new rocket designs under construction, there are concerns the ESA won’t be able to compete with SpaceX.
And with the rideshare program for the Falcon 9, SpaceX could easily take missions away from the Vega-C, which has a lift capacity of about 1.5 tons to polar orbit.
Because of this, the French and Italian ministers are calling for Europe to offer a significant “technological and industrial” response to the rise of SpaceX. It is not clear what form this would take, nor how quickly the European nations could move in response.
Europe is lagging behind SpaceX. With the NASA partnership with SpaceX, the company is now even sending astronauts to the ISS. In fact, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, mission specialist on the Crew-2 mission, is scheduled to launch next month. He will be the first European astronaut to catch a ride on a SpaceX vehicle. But many European astronauts will follow.
