Space, France aims to beat SpaceX with ArianeGroup’s reusable launcher?
The European company ArianeGroup will follow SpaceX and develop its own reusable launcher… what about Italy?
With ArianeGroup's Maia, France aims to overtake the American SpaceX and its reusable Falcon 9 rocket in the race for space access.
The Franco-German company ArianeGroup, prime contractor of the Ariane launcher, will in fact follow in the footsteps of the Americans and develop its own reusable launcher. This was announced yesterday by the French Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, outlining France's space strategy with an investment by the French state of 1.5 billion euros.
This launcher called Maia "must be operational in 2026," said Le Maire. The new French launcher will also serve to "put some competition back in the world of space".
France seems to have responded to the appeal of Josef Aschbacher, the new director general of ESA, the European Space Agency, who considers SpaceX a risk for the Old Continent. According to him – he told the Financial Times – European governments should develop coordinated action to reject Musk's ambitions to dominate space.
Even if Paris aims to go it alone. It's Italy? On 26 November, the Italian Minister for Innovation Vittorio Colao and Bruno Le Maire signed an agreement on launchers at the end of "three months of intense negotiations".
The agreement aims to consolidate Franco-Italian cooperation on European launchers, built on future Ariane 6 launchers (intended to bring satellites into high orbit) and Vega C (for small and medium satellites in low orbit). The latter is produced by the Italian industry Avio. The inaugural flights of both new launchers have been postponed due to the Covid crisis, now expected in mid-2022.
At the moment Avio is also working on Vega E, the latest evolution of the Vega launcher. But will the future Maia mini reusable launcher compete directly with Avio's carrier?
THE STRATEGY OUTLINED BY MINISTER LE MAIRE
Europe "has lost the turn of the reusable launcher and we have fallen behind our American partners who developed SpaceX and Falcon 9, and this delay must be made up", added Le Maire, presenting France's new strategic plan for the space that includes 1.5 billion euros of investments within the 'France 2030' plan.
"We are about to remedy a bad strategic choice made ten years ago so that France and Europe finally have a reusable launcher", underlined the French minister, adding that he is "convinced that this approach is complementary to Ariane 6".
ARIANEGROUP WORKING ON THE MAIA REUSABLE MINI LAUNCHER
The first act of the new French space strategy is therefore the reusable mini-launcher project, called Maia, developed by Ariane Group, manufacturer of the Ariane rocket.
The mastermind behind the project is the Italian engineer Morena Bernardini, strategy director of Ariane Group. “He proposed it, wanted it, developed it and brought it to the highest levels” commented an insider at Startmag .
THE FIRST COMMERCIAL FLIGHT
The first commercial flight of this small launcher is scheduled for 2026.
“The deadline is tight but it is justified because Ariane Group, which is on the initiative of the project, does not start from scratch. It will be based on the Themis demonstrator, the development of which was launched last year.
NASA-SPACEX MODEL
Finally, for the French minister Le Maire it is also necessary to look at the American operating model to compete with SpaceX.
It is necessary to adopt the method of public-private partnership that has received so much with the Nasa-SpaceX tandem and invest more.
“It is not a question of adopting an operating modality similar to that implemented for the Ariane program, whose piloting too“ institutional ”in the words of Le Maire has shown its limits” underlines La Tribune .
LE MAIRE: "ENOUGH SHARING OF TASKS BETWEEN FRENCH, GERMANS AND ITALIANS"
“This time we forget the sharing of tasks, the subject of squabbles. The French, the Germans and the Italians will manage alone before – perhaps – to find themselves in the race. Objective: to challenge the major European industrial players to the idea that "the best wins". “It is good to put some rivalry and competition back into the world of space”, theorizes Bruno Le Maire, taken from La Tribune .
Words that clash with the commitments made at the end of November with the Italo-French agreement to consolidate cooperation between the two countries on launchers, based on the Ariane 6 and Vega C launchers. In particular, this agreement lays the foundations for greater competitiveness both liquid and solid propulsion, thanks to industrial optimizations and enhanced cooperation agreed by the working groups.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/spazio-la-francia-punta-a-battere-spacex-con-il-lanciatore-riutilizzabile-di-arianegroup/ on Wed, 08 Dec 2021 07:13:43 +0000.