Re:After successfully entering Earth's atmosphere, a Europea...
by agos on Saturday June 28, 2025 @04:43PM
(#44408018)
Right now you can’t say much about NASA long time commitment either
Re:After successfully entering Earth's atmosphere, a Europea...
by JumpCrisscross on Saturday June 28, 2025 @04:49PM
(#44408058)
> you can’t say much about NASA long time commitment either
Of course one can. Those plans could change. But they were set and funded and that inertia appears to be saving them [1].
ESA has nothing similar planned. (Beyond collaboration [2].)
[1] https://yellowhammernews.com/u-s-senate-directive-would-revi...
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-european-space-agency...
SpaceX raised private capital. It continues to raise private capital. (It still tapped into public coffers for Crew Dragon, though, because the demand side of that market remains entirely public.)
It could do this because NASA had committed to the Artemis programme. That’s the demand. ESA has no similar promise of returns for a private backer; giving money to these guys strikes closer to a grant or donation than investment.