European Space Agency (ESA) director of space transportation Toni Tolker-Nielsen thinks that SpaceX’s Starship will neither be a game changer nor a real competitor to its Ariane 6 satellite launcher immediately.
What Happened: While SpaceX’s Starship is designed to fly people to the moon and Mars, ESA’s Ariane 6 is to launch a four or five-ton satellite, the executive said in an interview with SpaceNews.
“Starship will not eradicate Ariane 6 at all,” Tolker-Nielsen said while adding that things might change in the future.
In the future, say sometime in 2040, the space travel industry might have advanced to have a space transportation logistics system with recurrent and reusable launchers flying to a hub, the executive said. Starship will probably have a major role in carrying heavy cargo to this hub “like a container ship getting to a terminal,” he opined.
Ariane 6 was initially expected to fly in 2020 but faced several delays. With Ariane 6's predecessor Ariane 5 having its last flight in July and the Vega-C rocket being taken out of service in December 2022 following a failure, the European Space Agency is now left with no autonomous access to space. Vega-C is now expected to return to flight only in late 2024.
The Ariane 6, therefore, is a major focus point for the European space industry. The launch vehicle is manufactured by ArianeGroup, a joint venture between Airbus and Safran, and is expected to launch on July 9.
Why It Matters: Earlier this year, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk questioned the reusability of the satellite launcher. Ariane 6 is not reusable but expendable, meaning it can only be launched once. Musk's SpaceX, meanwhile, is attempting to make its rockets reusable to bring down the cost of spaceflight.
Tolker-Nielsen responded to Musk’s questions in the interview saying that ESA chose making Ariane 6 not reusable because of low launch needs. However, when they start launching frequently in the future, they will use reusability for economic and sustainability reasons, he added.
ESA plans to have the first commercial flight of Ariane 6 after its inaugural flight by 2024-end. This will be followed by six flights in 2025, eight flights in 2026, 10 flights in 2027, and nine flights each in 2028 and 2029, the executive said.
SpaceX’s Starship has already had two test flights this year. SpaceX is expected to have at least six test flights of the Starship this year, as per CEO Elon Musk‘s latest estimate from March.
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