Space travel: Airbus is reportedly planning a European SpaceX alternative
Elon Musk's SpaceX has shaken up the space industry, but the competition has so far been unable to counter this. Now there may be a new attempt.
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The European aerospace groups Airbus, Thales and Leonardo are reportedly looking into establishing a joint space and satellite business to take on SpaceX. This was reported by the financial news agency Bloomberg, citing insiders. According to the report, the companies from France and Italy have hired consultants to examine possible regulatory hurdles and the costs of such a joint project. The question of whether contracts that have already been awarded could be transferred to a new joint venture is also to be clarified.
Immense gap to SpaceX
According to Bloomberg, the plans are at an early stage and many details are still open. With the exception of Thales, none of the companies involved have commented on this, and the company has only admitted that talks are at an early stage. However, the fact that the companies have engaged specialists for mergers and acquisitions is a sign that plans that have been discussed for a long time could now be concretized. This could be linked to developments in the USA, where SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has established himself as one of President Donald Trump's closest confidants and is influencing US government business.
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SpaceX has achieved a number of successes in recent years and dominates launches into space with its reusable Falcon 9 rockets. While 132 of these launched cargo into space last year, there were only three launches of a European rocket. SpaceX has also built by far the largest satellite network for Starlink. At present, there are no indications that Europe can reduce this immense gap. Against this backdrop, it is at least questionable whether a joint venture between established space companies could compete with the risk-taking and agile SpaceX.
(mho)
