There is a lot of excitement in the space industry. On June 6, for the first time after three consecutive failures, the giant American rocket Starship from SpaceX successfully re-entered the atmosphere by splashing down in the Indian Ocean. A few weeks later, on June 25, China impressed by bringing back to Earth samples taken from the far side of the Moon by the Chang’e-6 probe, something that had never been done before.
And in a few days, on Tuesday, July 9, Europeans should regain access to space with the qualification flight of Ariane-6. This series of events alone illustrates the acceleration of investments, space having become a major scientific and strategic issue, whether for lunar exploration, defense, Earth observation, or even telecommunications and high-speed Internet, thanks to satellite constellations.
A “tipping point”
Faced with these challenges, initiatives are multiplying. In Europe, private mini-launcher projects are bubbling over”notes Jean-Marc Astorg, director of strategy at the National Center for Space Studies, before returning to the technological revolution underway: “We have entered a transition phase where, alongside new classic heavy launchers arriving on the market, such as Ariane-6 in Europe, H3 in Japan and Vulcan in the United States, large-scale reusable rockets such as Elon Musk’s Starship and Jeff Bezos’s New Glenn are being developed.”
Their arrival on the market “will be a tipping point”he believes. The break will be “major” when Starship, once operational, will be able to carry 100 tons, ten times more than current launchers. This could be in five to ten years.
Another space power, India is also developing a reusable and low-cost rocket, the Next Generation Launch Vehicle, inspired by SpaceX’s Falcon 9. This project is being watched with interest by France, which has strengthened its partnership with New Delhi. But India’s priority remains manned flights, to join the United States, China and Russia. Russia, for its part, has dropped out of this competition for several years, especially since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February 2022.