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Re:US threatens Europe over Starlink restrictions by _diyar on Sunday October 18, 2026 @04:25PM (#50145136)
The internal cost per tonne to low Earth orbit differs vastly between SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Ariane’s best offer:

  Vehicle                       Cost / tonne
  Falcon 9 (booster recovery)   ~$2 million
  Ariane 64                     ~$5 million
  Starship (projected)          <$500,000
To meaningfully compete, European launch providers must try to match these costs, then spend a decade putting these vehicles into orbit. That’s no easy task.
Re:US threatens Europe over Starlink restrictions by Timon3 on Sunday October 18, 2026 @08:49PM (#50147080)
No better time to start than now, right?
Re:US threatens Europe over Starlink restrictions by thisislife2 on Monday October 19, 2026 @06:40AM (#50150725)
They should just outsource the launches to ISRO - one of the world's cheapest.
Re:US threatens Europe over Starlink restrictions by _diyar on Monday October 19, 2026 @07:45PM (#50159509)
Source? Quick search did not reveal any internal cost per tonne to orbit numbers.

Either way, if they did outsource these launches, they would not be paying the cost, but the price (meaning cost + margin). And that is much more expensive then just buying it from SpX.

Re:US threatens Europe over Starlink restrictions by baxuz on Monday October 19, 2026 @07:15AM (#50150964)
Remind me, which starship?