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Europe Confronts Its Launcher Challenge To Keep Pace

space launch rendering

MaiaSpace is targeting the start of commercial launch operations next year.

Credit: MaiaSpace

Europe has called an end to its launcher shortage. Now it wants to inject greater innovation and competition to demonstrate it can keep pace with global rivals.

Central to that endeavor is the European Launcher Challenge, an effort the European Space Agency (ESA) plans to kick off in the coming weeks. ESA, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, is leaning on the program to remain relevant in space launch and keep pace with rivals such as SpaceX. The challenge aims to fund startups and others to expand the region’s homegrown space transportation options.

  • Space officials eye first Ariane 64 launch this year
  • “We need competition,” Latitude CEO says

Europe enjoyed launch successes in 2024—but with clear evidence of how much ground it has lost. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher had warned of a launcher shortage after the December 2022 Vega C failure and mid-2023 Ariane 5 retirement left Europe without independent access to space. But the first flight of the Ariane 6 and return to flight of the Vega C in 2024 mean that period is over, Aschbacher said Jan. 9. “We are now focusing on making sure these launchers are being exploited,” he said.

There are signs Europe is still in ramp-up mode. European space officials had aimed for six Ariane 6 launches this year. That has been scaled back to five as engineers address issues discovered during the inaugural mission. Among those launches is the first flight for an Ariane 64, the four-booster heavy-lift version of the rocket, due to carry satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper constellation. ESA also forecasts four Vega C launches in 2025.

The nine planned launches also illustrate the gap that has developed between Europe and others. SpaceX alone conducted 145 flights last year, U.S.-based Rocket Lab flew 13 times from New Zealand, and China conducted 68 orbital launch attempts in 2024, although two failed.

The European Launcher Challenge has generated tremendous interest and friction among the region’s launch companies. Several plan to log their first flights in the coming months. Arianespace, Europe’s incumbent launch service provider, has warned that internal competition could dilute the ability to keep pace with global rivals.

Nine companies presented Nov. 8 during ESA’s European Launcher Challenge industry day: HyImpulse, HyPrSpace, Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, Orbex, PLD Space, Rocket Factory Augsburg, Skyrora and The Exploration Co.

That breadth has caused some concern. MaiaSpace CEO Yohann Leroy said ESA should limit the number of winners to focus financial firepower and maximize the chances of success for the selected projects. MaiaSpace, owned by Ariane 6 manufacturer ArianeGroup, is working on reusable rocket technology.

Competition may bring innovation, Leroy told reporters Jan. 10 in Paris, but it “can be harmful if the institutional market is scattered between players, and Europe’s institutional market is a fraction of its U.S. equivalent,” he noted. “The domestic market for one player must be large enough to recoup nonrecurring costs and be competitive on the global commercial market.”

Stanislas Maximin, CEO of microlauncher startup Latitude, has high expectations for the challenge. “We need competition,” Maximin said in September at the World Space Business Week conference in Paris. “We will perhaps compete with Ariane 6 or what comes next. ArianeGroup should compete like everyone else.”

Events this year are pivotal to ESA’s launcher drive. Ministers from ESA member states are to gather in Bremen, Germany, in November to agree on the agency’s next three-year funding cycle. Launcher challenge financing and other efforts are on the agenda.

ESA also plans to test its Themis rocket prototype to validate reuse technologies in Kiruna, Sweden. The Themis uses the ESA-funded ArianeGroup Prometheus engine, developed in the 224,800-lb.-thrust class with lower costs and reusability in mind. The methane-fueled throttleable engine underwent ground tests late last year and is nearing the end of its development.

ArianeGroup CEO Martin Sion told reporters on Jan. 10 that the Prometheus is available for other European companies to use and that such cooperation would not dilute the region’s efforts.

MaiaSpace, with 250 employees, is focused on beginning commercial operations next year from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The system initially will use an expendable first stage, with reusability through barge recovery to come in 2028, Leroy said. Payload capacity to low Earth orbit should be around 1,500 kg (3,300 lb.) for the expendable system, or 500 kg for the reusable one to accommodate recovery. The company plans to ramp up to 20 launches per year in the early 2030s, he added.

Thierry Dubois

Thierry Dubois has specialized in aerospace journalism since 1997. An engineer in fluid dynamics from Toulouse-based Enseeiht, he covers the French commercial aviation, defense and space industries. His expertise extends to all things technology in Europe. Thierry is also the editor-in-chief of Aviation Week’s ShowNews. 

Robert Wall

Robert Wall is Executive Editor for Defense and Space. Based in London, he directs a team of military and space journalists across the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific.