The Week in Space and Physics: Europe Dreams Big
On Europe's efforts to catch-up in a global space race
The European Space Agency likes to dream big. Last week, as its member states met in Paris, the agency agreed to fund a set of ambitious ideas that may put Europe at the forefront of space technology. Most eye-catching was a scheme to harvest solar energy from orbiting platforms. But the meeting also sketched out plans to reach the Moon, to build fleets of satellites and to develop new rockets.
All this comes after a difficult year for Europe’s space agency. The war in Ukraine put an abrupt end to a long partnership with Russia. That, in turn, scuppered plans to send a rover to Mars - a mission that has now been delayed until the end of the decade. ESA has since faced difficult questions about the wisdom of such deep past partnerships with Russia.
The agency’s director, Josef Aschbacher, has repeatedly warned that Europe risks falling behind in a global race to space. As both America and China eye the Moon and host flourishing space companies, Europe, he fears, is lagging behind.
That may be true. It is certainly true that Europe has missed previous waves of technology – the continent has no equal to Facebook, Google or Baidu. And it is also true that Europe has, so far at least, no reusable rocket of its own, or anything that can hope to rival SpaceX. It has no human-rated space capsule, no rover on Mars, no plans to build a new space station far above the Earth.
Yet it is equally true that Europe has achieved remarkable past success in space. It was, after all, a European rocket that lofted the James Webb into orbit. Its astronauts have commanded the International Space Station and its satellites have mapped the galaxy and hunted for exoplanets. European probes have reached Titan, landed on comets and soared through the Sun’s atmosphere.
ESA’s plans for the next three years, as outlined at the meeting in Paris, promise to continue this strong scientific legacy. The agency recommitted to its Mars rover, promising to find an alternative way to put it on the Red Planet by the end of the decade. It also agreed to support the International Space Station until 2030, and funded a European role in Artemis, America’s project to return to the Moon.
Also announced were plans to study the idea of space based solar power – a technology that could, one day, beam vast quantities of energy down to Earth. Though preliminary, and technologically challenging, ESA seems to think the idea might one day provide an endless supply of clean energy to the continent, and - no doubt - boost the importance of space to Europe.
Yet missing from the strategy was a clear commitment to boosting Europe’s commercial space sector. Europe has, it is true, given bags of cash to start-up companies trying to build new rockets. But this is more an attempt to catch up with rival powers. America is already funding private space stations: an effort that, for now, seems a step too far for Europe.
Europe’s New Astronauts
It took two years to whittle down the numbers. Candidates – more than twenty-two thousand in total – were subjected to a series of tests covering mental abilities, psychological fitness and medical health. In the end just five made it to the coveted spot of career astronaut. Eleven more were selected as reserves and one, a former paralympian, became the first “parastronaut”.
Such astronaut selections are rare things in Europe. Unlike NASA, which selects new candidates every other year, ESA last ran a selection process in 2009. Just a handful of European astronauts are active at any one time, and typically only one flies into space per year. Europe, when it comes to human spaceflight, seems more like Japan – with seven current astronauts – than America – with forty-three.
The new astronauts are at least likely to get one visit each to the International Space Station. ESA has agreed to continue supporting the station until the end of the 2020s, and has historically provided one crew member per year. Europe will also assist with the Artemis program. That could see the first European – and perhaps first non-American – walk on the Moon around 2030.
Yet in the longer term the prospects for European astronauts are less clear. The space station will probably shut down sometime in the 2030s, depriving them of a clear destination. ESA could, perhaps, pay for them to visit private space stations, or join forces with America (or even China) to send more to the Moon.
But in truth, Europe has never strongly committed to human spaceflight. It has not – unlike America, Russia or China – built human-rated space vehicles of its own. European astronauts, few as they are, have thus always relied on foreign partners – the Russians or Americans – to reach orbit. Now, as NASA begins funding the construction of private space stations, Europe once again seems content to wait on the sidelines.
That looks like bad news for the roster of reserve astronauts ESA selected last week. None of them – bar unexpected tragedy or funding – are likely to fly to the space station. None, indeed, are likely to travel to the Moon. Instead their role seems to be as the name implies: a “reserve”, kept ready in case an unexpected opportunity to travel emerges.
A stronger European commitment to human spaceflight would surely be welcomed. But in the absence of proper funding, or of efforts to promote private activities, it looks unlikely to come any time soon.
Seeking a Rival to SpaceX…
Once upon a time conventional wisdom held that rockets only flew once. Engineers would load them with fuel, light the ignition and watch them soar gracefully into the heavens, never to return. All that was very wasteful: equivalent, as it is often put, to throwing away an airplane after its maiden flight.
Nowadays, with SpaceX regularly flying and landing the Falcon 9 rocket, the idea of single-use rockets looks old fashioned. Yet it is easy to forget that most rockets, worldwide, still only fly once. Only SpaceX, indeed, has perfected the process of flying, landing and flying again successfully.
That has given SpaceX, and by association America, a huge advantage in the space race. The Falcon 9 can fly far more cheaply and frequently than any other rocket on Earth. That allowed Elon Musk to build out the largest constellation of satellites ever seen.
Mindful of this fact, Europe has recently put more efforts into building cheaper reusable rockets of their own. Half a dozen startups are flourishing across the continent, flush with cash from governments and institutions. Several are now getting close to launching test flights.
PLDSpace, a Spanish company, has spoken of launching by the end of the year. Two German companies – Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg – both aim to fly in 2023. And Orbex, a British start-up, plans to launch a small rocket from Scotland sometime next year.
The limited demand for rockets probably isn’t enough for them all to thrive. But Europe looks determined to have a rocket champion of its own – and isn’t willing to surrender to SpaceX just yet.
…and a European Starlink
Twenty years ago Europe saw the growing importance of America’s GPS constellation, and decided to build one of its own. The result, after years of political arguments and delays, is the Galileo constellation: a European owned system for global positioning.
Now, as Europe’s leaders once again eye American technology with jealousy, plans are afoot to build another constellation. This time the target is Starlink, and the result could be an independent European system for global communications.
Though the idea was conceived before the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Musk’s recent capricious behaviour with Starlink - first offering it to the Ukrainians for free, and then threatening to take it away – appears to have strengthened European resolve to build the system.
Once in place, the constellation would guarantee Europe’s ability to communicate securely, without a need to rely on foreign powers – or foreign billionaires – to do so. That it would also strengthen Europe’s satellite communications industry – long a major player – is surely also welcomed by Europe’s politicians.