the European Union wants to catch up in space exploration and conquest

The European Union wants to catch up in the exploration and conquest of space! It promises, on the occasion of the European space summit organized in Seville until Tuesday November 7, to modernize its space strategy.

>> European Space Summit: a French start-up wants to develop a reusable spacecraft

This Space Summit is taking place in Seville until Tuesday November 7 in a very unfavorable context for the European Union. It’s simple, currently, Europeans have no possibility of accessing space on their own. The Ariane 5 rocket made its last flight in July 2023. We are still waiting for Ariane 6, which suffered numerous technical problems with a total delay of 4 years, and a first launch now planned for 2024. As for the other European launcher , Vega-C, it is also grounded after the failure of its first commercial launch last year. To send satellites or exploration probes into space, Europeans must rely on the Americans.

Encourage competition

To deal with this crisis, France renounces its monopoly and accepts that there are competitors to Ariane Espace. The Minister of the Economy Bruno le Maire evokes a decisive turning point in European space history. The market for new launchers is now open to French, German or Italian SMEs. This was also one of the requests from Germany, where certain young companies are developing at high speed. The idea is therefore to encourage competition, move away from institutional logic and enter into economic logic and therefore encourage the emergence of innovations.

A strategy adopted by the United States with the success we know. Elon Musk’s company, Space X, is now essential for sending satellites and astronauts into space.

Concerning European manned flights, there is still no indication despite this Seville summit. The European Union does indeed depend on the United States to send its astronauts into space, but it has just opened a door to manned flights. The European Space Agency will launch a competition for European manufacturers to develop a cargo solution. It would be a vessel capable initially of sending supplies to the International Space Station by 2028. This device could one day also send Europeans into Space, perhaps enough to compete with the Americans, the Chinese , the Russians or the Indians.