Stefan Israel recalled that the main European competitors are the American company SpaceX, as well as China
PARIS, July 3. /TASS/. Mass launches of satellite groups and large financial injections into the space industry in the United States can lead to a significant advantage in favor of American companies in the space launch market, and Europe should join forces to create competition. This opinion was expressed by the CEO of Arianespace, Stefan Israel, speaking on Saturday at the economic forum in Aix-en-Provence, France.
"SpaceX is our main competitors," he stated, noting that, in addition to the United States, China is also Europe's main competitor in space. - Every two weeks, 60 new satellites [launched by SpaceX] appear over our heads. If Europe does not react quickly enough, one day we will get a situation where one company will dominate the rest."
"We need rules, and we cannot leave the US with a monopoly on the regulatory framework. Access to orbit may be difficult. In addition, there are challenges in the field of ecology and frequencies, so Europe should take part in such discussions. We need coordinated actions in the field of industry and public policy, " Yisrael added.
The head of Arianespace noted that the United States allocates five times more funds to the space industry than European countries, which contributes to " the emergence of private companies with billions of assets." According to him, the key to the success of Americans in the space industry at the moment is the expansion of cooperation between the "space industry that has been cooking in its own environment for a long time" and technology companies from Silicon Valley, flavored with abundant state funding. "Even NASA is now taking a position of reducing intervention and prefers to buy services, as it has been happening since the beginning of the history of SpaceX," Israel stated.
As examples, he cited manned flights to orbit, for which the United States spends billions, while Europe is forced to buy seats on Russian and American ships. He also again pointed to the presence of satellite groups in the United States, which "are created with private money, but for public procurement," without naming, however, specific companies or projects.
"We need a European equivalent of DARPA [The Office of Advanced Research Programs of the US Department of Defense], it is necessary that the state system encourages innovation and allows you to work more freely in this direction. We must remember that we are Europeans. We need to buy European products and encourage European projects, we need big projects, " Yisrael said.
