ESA buys the first Ariane 6 launches
The European Space Agency (ESA) has purchased the first two Ariane 6 launches to place four of its Galileo GPS satellites in orbit in the 2020-21 timeframe.
This is not a big surprise, since ESA is mandated to use Arianespace’s rockets, and the space agency is the obvious candidate for making the first commitment to this new rocket’s use.
The press release does not mention the price that Arianespace is charging for these launches, but I suspect it isn’t anywhere near as cheap as they will have to charge to truly private and commercial customers. Essentially, I am willing to bet that this contract award is a bit of crony capitalism, designed to pass some extra cash from ESA to Arianespace.
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The European Space Agency (ESA) has purchased the first two Ariane 6 launches to place four of its Galileo GPS satellites in orbit in the 2020-21 timeframe.
This is not a big surprise, since ESA is mandated to use Arianespace’s rockets, and the space agency is the obvious candidate for making the first commitment to this new rocket’s use.
The press release does not mention the price that Arianespace is charging for these launches, but I suspect it isn’t anywhere near as cheap as they will have to charge to truly private and commercial customers. Essentially, I am willing to bet that this contract award is a bit of crony capitalism, designed to pass some extra cash from ESA to Arianespace.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Robert,
Isn’t a government mandate of the use of a specific company’s product the very definition of crony capitalism?
With such a mandate in place, the company can charge the victim of the mandate anything that it can get away with and still get contracts for launch (all the traffic will bear). If Arianespace charges too much then there won’t be enough leftover funding to build the satellites and probes that are to be launched, but if they charge too little then the commercial customers will have to pay more — perhaps more than a SpaceX (or Blue Origin) launch.
Edward: Since I specifically labelled this crony capitalism in my post, I think I was pretty clear that I agree with you. :)
Mr. Z.–
– hate to be picky, but we have a missing letter lost in the machinery.
“Essentially, I am willing to be that this contract award is a bit of crony capitalism,…”
Your willing to bet….
Edward–
These Europeans…. they literally invented the phrase “crony capitalism!”
Wayne: Yup, there was a letter missing, the “t” for “bet.” Now fixed.
As I said, someone always notices. Thank you.
Robert,
I took the phrase, “I am willing to bet” to mean that there is some room for doubt.
(By the way, I also noticed the missing letter, but I understood the meaning. I think that we understand that we all occasionally mess up our spellling, the grammar, and our punctuation too, but we usually manage to make ourselves understood.)