Re:Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket is turning into a space policy d...
by nordsieck on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @01:25PM
(#35616980)
> The US has the same issue with the SLS where the senators are mud-fighting to gather more pork for their states. Ariane is really public sector just like SLS even though it's run by Boeing.
I think the tragic part is that the Ariane 5 was an extremely commercially competitive rocket before SpaceX came along. They certainly beat the pants off of ULA. Whereas SLS was never going to be anything but a boondoggle.
> The bigger issue is why Europe doesn't have a SpaceX but then again the US only has one and for many years people were saying it would crash and burn, which it literally did many times. It could easily have gone another way.
We'll see. Between Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, and Relativity, I'm willing to bet that at least 1 becomes commercially successful over the next decade.
The bigger issue is why Europe doesn't have a SpaceX but then again the US only has one and for many years people were saying it would crash and burn, which it literally did many times. It could easily have gone another way.
I think part of the issue is the more complex legal landscape and less available real-estate. It would be pretty unthinkable for a company like SpaceX to basically own a community like Boca Chica and shut it down as it pleases.
But overall I'm happy with Europe. Needless to say, economic progress isn't everything and Europe is a much safer place with much more welfare for those who slip between the cracks. I'd take that over golden mountains any day. I really don't care about GDP per Capita but more about quality of life. I even chose a relatively low-wage country to live in. Of course that requires some money but we still have a good life here. It's enough.