A new European rocket is poised to blast into space with a mission that officials here say is vitally important: reducing the region’s reliance on Elon Musk and SpaceX. Europe’s satellites and military intelligence have come to depend on the U.S. company after delays and malfunctions left the continent unable to get to orbit with its own rockets. Officials fear that dependence could extend to the battlefield: SpaceX’s Starlink internet service has been crucial for Ukraine to fight off Russia, fanning worries in Europe that its armies might also need Musk for satellite communications in a war.  Governments say the Ariane 6 rocket, operated by the European consortium Arianespace, will begin to change that equation. It is set to lift off from French Guiana on in July 2024, Europe’s first rocket to launch in a year.

“Clearly, we must deliver. We must restore autonomous access to space” for Europe, Stéphane Israël, chief executive of Arianespace, said in an interview.  With European rockets stuck on the ground, SpaceX stepped in to fill the void. Its Falcon 9 rocket has launched all of Europe’s most important satellites over the past year, including two that were supposed to be handled by Arianespace. The most recent blow came last month when Europe’s weather-satellite agency canceled a contract to launch in 2025 with Ariane 6 and hired SpaceX instead. The decision left European space officials crestfallen, with the head of the French space agency saying: “How far will we, Europeans, go in our naivety?”…

The rise of SpaceX has upended Europe’s rocket industry and its champion, Arianespace, which used to lead the world in commercial launch services. SpaceX’s mastery of reusable rocket technology has left Arianespace struggling to compete on price and more than a decade behind with its own reusable rocket.  The French government is the biggest backer of Arianespace and is aiming to keep the consortium in business amid doubts in Germany that it is still worth subsidizing. French officials say they fear the continent would be happy to let SpaceX keep launching for Europe. ArianeGroup, Arianespace’s parent company, is vital to what France calls its strategic autonomy because it has a military arm that provides the rocket technology for France’s nuclear arsenal.

Excerpts from Matthew Dalton, The Mission for Europe’s New Rocket: Challenge SpaceX, WSJ, July 8, 2024