Star Wars between Paris and Rome on Vega?
Will the Italian launcher Vega leave the orbit of Arianespace, the company controlled by the Franco-German giant ArianeGroup that manages the European launchers Vega (produced by da Avio) and Ariane (created by Arianegroup)? This is the question that the French press is asking …
Star Wars in sight between Paris and Rome on the commercialization of the Vega, the European light launcher designed and manufactured by the Italian Avio?
In a letter addressed to the European Space Agency (ESA) the Draghi government had asked to take Vega out of the orbit of Arianespace, La Tribune revealed yesterday.
As Il Sole 24 Ore explained last week, “France through Arianspace has an exclusive right to market Vega, but with ArianeGroup (which controls Arianespace) it has launched the Maia project which can be in direct competition”.
In fact, last year Paris stunned the Draghi government by announcing the development of Maia, a small reusable launcher designed by the Franco-German giant ArianeGroup.
In addition to the reusable rockets of the American SpaceX, there will also be the European ones Maia but in this project France aims to do it alone. It's Italy? Just a year ago the then Italian Minister for Innovation Vittorio Colao and the French counterpart Bruno Le Maire had signed an agreement on launchers. The agreement aimed to consolidate Franco-Italian cooperation on European launchers, built on future Ariane 6 launchers (intended to bring satellites into high orbit) and Vega C (for medium-small satellites in low orbit). At the moment Avio is also working on Vega E, the latest evolution of the Vega launcher. But will the future Maia mini reusable launcher compete directly with Avio's carrier?
The entire launcher industry depends on the position of the new Italian government, whether or not to confirm the withdrawal of Vega, the French daily presses. According to press sources, the former Minister of Technological Innovation Colao, holder of the space delegation, should be succeeded by Adolfo Urso , Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy of the Meloni government.
Certainly more will be known about the Italian strategy when the new head of the Meloni government for the space economy will attend the upcoming ESA ministerial conference in Paris (22-23 November).
VEGA OUT OF ARIANESPACE?
According to sources in the French newspaper La Tribune , the Draghi government has sent a letter to ESA to ask for the Vega launcher to be released from the orbit of Arianespace. According to reports from Il Sole 24 Ore , Palazzo Chigi's request “to directly involve the Italian industry also in the Maia project with the prospect of developing an alternative to Elon Musk's Falcon” was unsuccessful.
What will the new Italian government led by Meloni decide? Will the executive try to use an iron fist on the Elysée?
“Rome's decision whether or not to confirm this request keeps the entire European space sector in suspense when ESA will have to decide on November 22 and 23 on the budget of its program for the next three years. Ten years after having made its first flight to Kourou, Vega could leave the aegis of Arianespace ”, urges the French newspaper.
AVIO'S INTENTIONS ACCORDING TO THE FRENCH PRESS
Why would Avio now want to leave the orbit of Arianespace?
For La Tribune , the Italian player seems to fear Germany's rise in pitchers. Mini-launcher programs that are just one step towards very fast competition with Vega C in the lighter satellite segment. “Yet Avio, which wants to undertake a verticalization of its business, seems to have more to lose by emancipating itself from Arianespace. Because the subsidiary ArianeGroup has done its duty by entrusting Vega with many launches, including those of Airbus and Thales Alenia Space. But it is the Cnes [French space agency] that holds the absolute weapon, granting or not a waiver for the launch of Kourou to Avio ”highlights the French newspaper.
THE POSITION OF THE AD RANZO
"We are moving towards the ESA Ministerial Conference at the end of November with the expectation of capitalizing on the many technological successes achieved to project ourselves towards the further developments necessary to ensure the completion of the roadmap of products that will be operational beyond 2026", declared Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio, after the Board of Directors examined and approved the consolidated results of the Group as at 30 September 2022.
The second launch of Vega C "expected in the coming weeks, will be the first commercial flight – after the inaugural one last July – of the new Vega C, the most performing European space launcher of the Vega class, a successful product made thanks to the support of all our partners, industrial and institutional ”, underlined Ranzo. "At the same time – added the CEO of Avio – we continue to advance in the various development programs, in particular on the future Vega E, whose M10 oxygen-methane engine has successfully completed 23 ignition tests with a cumulative operating time of over 1200 seconds ".
IN VIEW OF THE ESA MINISTERIAL
The next move will therefore be discovered at the ESA ministerial, when the member countries decide on both the refinancing of the European agency for the next three years and the approval of new programs.
"The tension is still unresolved and, if after the ministerial meeting of 22 and 23 November Paris were to go straight, Avio could consider countermoves, possibly also on the front of the EU Antitrust" ruled Il Sole 24 Ore .
WHAT THE COPASIR REPORT PUBLISHED IN JULY SAID (PRESIDED AT THE TIME BY URSO)
Finally, the ball would then pass to Adolfo Urso, the probable next aerospace manager in the Meloni executive.
Urso himself recently took care of space as president of Copasir, signing a long report last July . Our country can maintain that level of excellence that has characterized it since the dawn of the so-called 'space race'. But according to Copasir, "this positioning is now threatened by the growing activism of British and German companies, alongside the historic competition with French partners, in the space access sector that has seen our country up to now, with the Vega launcher. protagonist in this segment of the value chain of space activities ".
In the space access segment, represented by launchers, Italy boasts an excellent positioning with the different versions of the Vega carrier from Avio Spa, underlines Copasir. British and above all German companies, also supported by partial ESA support, "are rapidly acquiring skills such as to constitute a formidable competitor for Italian companies in this specific market context", added the Committee. And again regarding the Vega launcher, Copasir recalled that "the improvements envisaged by our industry have caused political reactions in Paris which fears potential competition with the Ariane in promising market segments such as the constellations of small satellites".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/guerre-stellari-tra-parigi-e-roma-su-vega/ on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 06:40:58 +0000.