The Minister of Economy, Finance and Reconstruction of France, Bruno Le Maire, pointed to large public investments in an American company that allowed them to make a breakthrough in the development of technology
PARIS, December 6. /tass/. France is investing in the creation of a light reusable launch vehicle in order to resist competition in the space launch market, including from the American SpaceX. This was stated on Monday by the Minister of Economy, Finance and Reconstruction of France, Bruno Le Maire, at a press conference at the Ariane Group company.
"We missed a round of development of returnable carriers, which we did not expect, and lagged behind our American partners, in particular SpaceX, who developed the Falcon 9. We must reduce this backlog," the minister said. He again pointed to the large government investments in SpaceX, which allowed them to make a breakthrough in the development of technology.
"Arian Group will launch its own project of reusable mini-rockets. For the first time, Europe will have access to such media. This will allow us to catch up with [SpaceX]," Le Maire said. According to him, the first samples should appear within the next four years and begin to be used in 2026. In addition, the French corporation should receive support for the start of operation of a new generation of Ariane 6 launch vehicles. Ariane Group should also develop "micro-launch vehicles" and the French authorities will consider raising funds to support their production by the end of this year.
"We must join forces and put differences in the past in order to be able to compete with our American partners and future Chinese partners, with Russian partners," the minister said. "European vehicles should be put into orbit by European launch vehicles. The United States prefers American carriers, the Chinese prefer Chinese. Europe should also adopt this approach," Le Maire said.
Ariane 6 is a new generation of Ariane family launch vehicles. It will be produced in two versions: a light version of the Ariane 62, equipped with two side solid-fuel accelerators and capable of carrying a payload weighing up to 5 tons, and a heavy version of the Ariane 64, which has four accelerators and allows up to 10.5 tons of cargo to be put into orbit.
Its first launch was planned to take place in 2020, but due to the pandemic, work on the construction of the launch complex for Ariane 6 at the Kourou cosmodrome was temporarily suspended. As a result, the launch was postponed first to 2021, and then to 2022. The commissioning ceremony of the launch complex for the Ariane 6 rockets under construction took place in September at the Guiana Space Center cosmodrome in Kourou (French Guiana).
