ArianeGroup

ArianeGroup is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 with headquarters in Issy-le-Moulineau. It consists of three main groups: aerospace, defense and security.

History

2023: Loss of single space rocket supplier status for EU

Delays in the delivery of the Ariane 6, problems with the more compact Vega-C produced by the Italian company Avio, and the severance of cooperation on the Russian middle-class Soyuz missile led to Europe being left without its own launch potential. Instead, the block has to turn to SpaceXIlon Musk, even for especially important missions.

Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, called the lack of launch capability a "crisis" for Europe's sovereign access to space.

Ashbacher has long advocated a model similar to the American space agency NASA, in which Europe would not purchase rocket systems, but buy flight services from European commercial launch companies.

In November 2023, his wish was granted. ESA member countries decided to announce a competition for the next generation of missiles, first for the intermediate launch vehicle and then for the successor Ariane 6. ArianeGroup, owned by France's Airbus and Safran, will no longer be a guaranteed general contractor.

The demand for competition came from where Germany some of Europe's most promising rocket startups are located. That was the price Germany France had to pay for its €1bn European Ariane 6 support package. Without the subsidies, the consumable Ariane 6 rocket would not have been able to compete with the reusable Falcon 9 company. SpaceX

"Ariane 6 had to compete in the commercial market without any subsidies," said Tony Tolker-Nielsen, ESA's acting director of space transportation. "It failed and now member states want us to change the system."

While a competition agreement was in place, Italian company Avio withdrew its small Vega launch vehicle from Arianespace, a subsidiary of ArianeGroup, which sells and operates all European launches.

Avio objected to ArianeGroup's plan to target the Vega market with MaiaSpace, its small rocket startup.

"How can we have a sales and marketing organization that creates a competing product?" Avio Chief Executive Officer Giulio Ranzo said. "If Ariane is going to be a competitor, you don't want it to have information about your rocket."

Representatives of ESA, which is independent of the EU but acts as its procurement agency and includes non-EU countries such as Britain and Switzerland, said the aim of the project was not to replace incumbent companies such as ArianeGroup or Avio, but to push them to improve efficiency.

'We wanted to give them an electric shock. We did. We have completely changed the paradigm of access to space, "Tolker-Nielsen said.

But individual ESA member states, like many other countries, want their slice of the growing space economy, which Morgan Stanley predicts will cost $1 trillion by 2040. The launch capability is key: There are about 20 startups in Europe developing micro rockets, and most have plans for larger rockets.

"We must not allow this to become a competition between countries," Tolker-Nielsen says. "It's not going to be easy."

Competition means that ESA will also have to revise the principle of georeservation, under which member states receive contracts proportional to their investments in the missile program. Critics say this leads to a non-competitive supply chain, favoring the largest rather than the most efficient investors.

But abolishing the system was risky, Lionel believes. "With georesearch, program managers know what their budget is and who the provider is," he said. It will also be difficult for governments who "won't know if they need to invest €20m or €100m," he added.

However, Ashbacher hopes that enabling launch service providers to self-select suppliers while ensuring fair profits for member states will reduce the cost of missions and stimulate the European commercial space sector.

NASA contracts not only contributed to the growth of Elon Musk's SpaceX, but also allowed its reusable rockets to significantly reduce the cost of launch, creating a dynamically developing US space industry.

"We looked at the American model and the lessons learned," the ESA CEO said in an interview with the FT. "We will give industry the freedom to do this in the best way from their perspective."

However, not everyone is convinced of this. Lori Garver, a former Nasa deputy administrator, says the space agency's strategic pivot can be difficult to replicate. "We had a unique situation with the richest man in the world where our strategy coincided with what he wanted to do anyway," she said.

European rockets will have to compete not only with SpaceX's Falcon 9, but also with its giant Starship, which is expected to be able to lift a payload weighing up to 150 tons into orbit when it finally starts working.

Most importantly, Europe may find it difficult to secure enough constant demand to help lower costs. The needs of its projects, such as the Galileo navigation service, the planned IRIS broadband grouping ² or scientific missions, are negligible compared to the United States. "We don't have as much demand for launch vehicles as the Americans," says Lyonnet.

European governments' annual spending on space in 2022 - either through national programs or the ESA - was estimated by consultancy Euroconsult to be less than a third of America's.

To succeed, member states will have to agree to combine their institutional launch needs to feed these European competitors, even if others may be cheaper. ESA has tried to do this for years, but has "not done well," Tolker-Nielsen said.

European rocket startups welcome competition, but some insist clearer signals are needed to persuade investors. "ESA should act like a true anchor client," says Ezekil Sanchez, executive president of Spanish rocket company PLD Space, arguing that ESA should seek a "full mission launch contract."

But combining demand may prove pointless if national interests prevail.

"Instead of trying to find a common solution that would be optimal for everyone... some see it as an opportunity to build more on their side, "Eurospace's Lyonnet said. "But there is no good national solution for European sovereignty at launch. Interdependence should be the rule. "

2017: Final Year of Leadership in the Global Commercial Launch Market for Geostationary Orbit

For decades, the French company ArianeGroup and its predecessors were the main contractors for the joint financing of the development of European heavy launch vehicles of the Ariane family. Until 2017, Ariane dominated the global market for commercial launches into geostationary orbit - 36,000 km above Earth.