Arianespace head of public affairs Charlotte Lang has advocated for legislation that would require European missions to be launched aboard European rockets.
Lang made the comments during the “Ensuring Long Term Autonomous Access to Space for Europe” panel on the first day of The European Space Forum conference.
“The EU should enforce the principle of European launcher preference,” said Lang.
In a follow-up statement, Arianespace reiterated “the need for the EU to legislate that European missions are launched from European territory using launchers and technology manufactured in Europe by European providers.” The company identified the European Union’s planned IRIS² constellation as the “perfect opportunity to advance this initiative.”
Following the final flight of Ariane 5 in July 2023, the grounding of Vega C in December 2022, the cessation of Soyuz launches from Kourou, and the continued delay of the introduction of Ariane 6, Europe has had no sovereign access to space for almost a year now.
This perfect storm of poor planning and bad luck was most excruciatingly highlighted when a pair of Galileo satellites were launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on 28 April 2024. The satellites rank as some of the most strategically important for Europe.
Apart from a pair of test satellites launched from Baikonur in 2005 and 2008, every Galileo satellite has been launched from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. That was, however, until April 2023, when the 29th and 30th Galileo satellites were launched from Kennedy Space Center.
With the introduction of Ariane 6 approaching within weeks and Vega C expected to be returned to flight before the end of the year, some of the darkest times in Europe’s long history of its sovereign access to space will come to an end. This capacity will be bolstered by a number of commercial launch providers who are preparing to complete the inaugural flights of their respective vehicles.
As operators of Ariane 6, Arianespace is understandably keen to secure guarantees from European leadership regarding the utilization of the ArianeGroup-built rocket. It may, however, be more important to ensure the future of European access through greater redundancy rather than legislatively enforcing guarantees to industry that are largely already established.