The Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, warned that the companies of American billionaire Elon Musk could take a dominant position in the developing space economy, since de facto they already dictate their own rules in it.
"It's an amazing situation, but one person owns half of all working satellites in the world. In fact, he sets the rules, and the rest of the world, including Europe, does not react quickly enough," he stressed.
Aschbacher called on European countries to provide their companies with opportunities for fair competition with SpaceX, which is deploying a network of Starlink satellites in orbit. He explained that in the future there will be much more restrictions in space concerning frequencies and orbital positions.
"The governments of European countries should be interested in jointly providing European providers [of satellite communications services] with equal opportunities for fair market competition," Ashbacher urged.
He noted that American regulators are interested in the United States dominating this area, and the relevant processes are taking place "very quickly and with great force."
On December 4, the American company SpaceX broke the annual record of launches of its own Falcon 9 heavy rocket. In 2021, as of December 3, 27 launches of such carriers were made. The previous record, including 26 Falcon 9 launches, was set in 2020.
Marina Sovina