ESA’s new Ariane 6 rocket passed a major full-scale rehearsal

Re:ESA’s new Ariane 6 rocket passed a major full-scale rehea... by ahartmetz on Friday November 24, 2023 @06:54AM (#38403037)

Note that an approach similar to Arianespace has worked quite well in the past, you have probably heard of it: Airbus. Imagine a world without SpaceX: Arianespace would be considered quite successful. I wouldn't say that Arianespace is weak (relative to the rest of the competition) - it's just that SpaceX is very strong.

Note that they are with... some? success trying to greatly reduce costs as a response to SpaceX. Have you heard of any other launcher company trying that recently?

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Re:ESA’s new Ariane 6 rocket passed a major full-scale rehea... by qwytw on Saturday November 25, 2023 @04:47AM (#38412458)

> Arianespace has worked quite well in the past, you have probably heard of it: Airbus

Airbus owns 50% of Arianespace so it makes sense.

> Have you heard of any other launcher company trying that recently?

I guess the issue is that it's such a big market and there isn't a lot of competition and everything is partially or mostly subsidized by governments (through NASA or ESA) how all have their own agendas which introduces a massive amount of inefficiencies. It's not like Ariane 6 would have ever been developed for entirely commercial purposes.

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