Open your checkbook
The ESA governance structure is unfavourable for taking rapid action. On the one hand, ESA countries approve the institution’s budgets in multi-year increments, giving the project a sense of stability over time. However, it takes time to approve new projects, and ESA members expect to receive benefits, investments and infrastructure to match their spending on the European space programme. This policy is known as a geographic return or geo-return.
France, for example, has become a major strategic importance in dividing the launch capabilities of independent Europe for over 60 years. The administration of French President Charles de Gaul made this decision during the Cold War. Around the same time, France decided that it should have a nuclear deterrent that is completely independent of the US and NATO.
In line with this policy, France hopes to invest in launchers more than other European countries. This means that the Ariane Rocket family, developed and funded through the ESA agreement, has been a predominantly French company since the launch of the first Arian in 1979.
This model has become obsolete in the age of commercial spaceflight. Startups across Europe, primarily France, Germany, the UK and Spain, are developing small launchers designed to carry payloads up to 1.5 meters into low-earth orbit. This is too small to compete directly with the Arian 6 rocket, but in the end, these companies want to develop a larger launcher.
Some European officials including Former head of the French Space Agencydenounced Geo-Return for the reason that Ariane 6 Rocket missed its price target.
Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA’s acting director of space transport, will speak at the 2021 event.
Credit: ESA/v. Stefanelli
With the European Launcher Challenge, ESA will be experimenting with a new fundraising model for the first time. In this new “fair contribution” approach, ESA leadership will submit plans to member states at the next ministerial meeting in November. The Space Agency calls on countries that will benefit most from winners of the Launcher Challenge to provide the majority of funding for the Challengers contract.
