News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on As the SpaceX steamroller surges, European rocket industry vows to resist. Parent comment

Re:As the SpaceX steamroller surges, European rocket industr... by rbanffy on Friday July 20, 2018 @05:35PM (#17579151)
There are a number of reasons why Europe would prefer a more expensive European launcher over a cheap American one. More or less the same reasons the US military has preferred pre-SpaceX American expendable launchers to superior and cheaper European ones for a lot of missions.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:As the SpaceX steamroller surges, European rocket industr... by marsokod on Friday July 20, 2018 @05:49PM (#17579258)
Yes, Europe wants their own launchers anyway as the access to US launches is still a hazardous endeavour for critical payloads. And the recent moves of the US international politics are not going in the right direction.

As long as there is no reciprocity in the full access to the markets, we will live a semi-closed gardens. If the markets open, it won't take long for the European companies to develop a reusable launcher capability. The technology and the knowledge exists already, but there is no political or financial incentive to do that right now.

[ Parent | on HN ]