How Europe tries to compete with the US and China in the space race
In the space race the Americans dominate. The Chinese have taken the place of the Russians for several years. And Europe?
February was the month of Mars.
First with the Hope probe of the United Arab Emirates, which entered the orbit of the red planet on 9 February. The next day, the Chinese probe Tianwen-1 also successfully entered the orbit of Mars.
In May, the Chinese spacecraft will release a rover to the Martian surface. If successful, China will be the second nation after the United States to operate a rover on Martian soil.
In fact, last February 18, NASA's Perseverance rover successfully completed its "landing" on the red planet.
The ESA and the Russian partner Roscosmos were instead forced to postpone the ExoMars mission to 2022.
Thus the new space race is looming with China and the United States leading the charge for Mars. While a number of nations and private companies like SpaceX compete for the Moon and low Earth orbit.
According to Le Monde, relegated to second place – behind the American leader and its Chinese competitor – the European Union still has the industrial and scientific heritage to compete in the conquest of space.
In this American-dominated race, the Chinese have for several years taken the place of the challengers occupied by the Russians, the latter far behind. The first two made about 40 launches each in 2020 (44 in the United States, of which more than half for SpaceX, and 41 in China), while Russia launched 12 rockets and Europe 10.
However, despite Beijing's tight schedule, the US remains the largest investor in space. With a budget of 48 billion dollars (39 billion euros) according to Euroconsult, it represents 58% of the world total. Its rival, albeit second, has a long way to go, with $ 8.9 billion.
In this geostrategic comparison, how is Europe positioning itself? According to Le Monde, the Old Continent is isolated and weakened .
THE PROBLEM OF GOVERNANCE OF EUROPE IN SPACE
If Europeans have all the industrial and scientific skills in this area, Europe is too slow and not united enough according to Le Monde . The fault of too complex governance and political differences that weigh on choices . Without forgetting the issue of financing. Beyond the budgetary differences, there is a clear distortion of competition with the United States. ( Here the in-depth study by Start on why Europe needs a Buy European Act ). Just think that SpaceX has the full support of NASA and the Department of Defense, who pay two or three times more for the Falcon rockets, Le Monde points out.
A POLITICAL IMPETUS NEEDED
"In a radically new context, we cannot face the United States benefiting from billions of dollars in US institutional budgets without rethinking the way we operate," warns Stéphane Israël, executive president of Arianespace. The latter is the commercial agency controlled by ArianeGroup, prime contractor of the Ariane program.
To advance more quickly, Israël recommends mobilizing the three main players of the Ariane and Vega launchers: France, Germany and Italy. "We also need political and industrial momentum that the European Space Agency can draw on," he added.
It seems that politics is moving in this direction.
In fact, at the end of November, Undersecretary Riccardo Fraccaro (M5S) and French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire announced the creation of a working group between the main European countries involved in space (and major ESA contributors): Italy , France and Germany.
THE COMPETITION TO EUROPEAN LAUNCHERS
Today, the family of European space launchers is challenged by strong competition that focuses on lower costs. From the American SpaceX (founded by Elon Musk) and Blue Origin (by Jeff Bezos) to the Chinese launcher Long March .
The EU is developing two launchers: Ariane 6 intended to bring the satellites into high orbit, and Vega C with the Italian Avio, for medium-small satellites in low orbit.
The European Space Agency has therefore developed Ariane 6, whose first flight has been postponed to the second quarter of 2022 , with a delay of eighteen months compared to the initial program, due to technical difficulties aggravated by Covid. Its success will therefore depend on the commitment of European countries to ensure its viability.
But at the beginning of the month, good news for the new European pitcher: the first upper stage is ready to face the tests. In fact, it left the ArianeGroup plant in Bremen, Germany, where it passed all functional tests. The next step will be to pass the fire tests. Scheduled for the second quarter of 2021, the final tests will qualify the upper stage as 'ready to fly' as part of the overall Ariane 6 system qualification process.
THE EU AIMS FOR A CONSTELLATION OF SATELLITES
But it's not just launchers in Europe's space race. Last December, the European Commissioner for Space, Thierry Breton, asked nine industrialists to carry out a feasibility study to design a constellation of satellites that broadcast broadband Internet . Again the stakes are high, because it is a question of digital sovereignty, facing the Americans who are determined to occupy all frequencies.
Having acquired its own GPS-independent satellite navigation system, Galileo, and its Earth observation system , Copernicus , the EU wishes to equip itself with a constellation of satellites capable of providing high-speed Internet access, especially for critical applications.
The European Commission has selected the members of the consortium: Airbus, Arianespace, Eutelsat, Hispasat, OHB, Orange, SES, Telespazio (jv Leonardo 67% and Thales 33%) and Thales Alenia Space (Thales 67% and Leonardo 33%).
IN COMPETITION WITH STARLINK AND KUIPER
But Europe isn't alone in the race to build these constellations and broadcast the internet to Earth from space. The project will compete with SpaceX's Starlink, Amazon Kuiper and OneWeb.
Once again, Elon Musk is leading the race, having already put over 1000 satellites into orbit for his Starlink constellation. Musk plans to launch up to 42,000 in the next few years . For his part, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wants to launch more than 3,000 by 2026.
“We are not trying to copy the Americans or the Chinese, but we make the next move with a new generation constellation that will allow us to exchange information securely around the world,” Breton explained in Brussels.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/come-europa-compete-con-usa-e-cina-nella-corsa-allo-spazio/ on Thu, 28 Jan 2021 06:33:50 +0000.