Europe risks lacking space launchers by 2030, ESA head says

Europe will face a shortage of own-built rocket launchers by the end of the decade, the head of the European Space Agency warned, as growing demand to launch new satellites outpaces the region's limited capabilities.

"Europe has a shortage of launchers around the 2030 timeframe," Director General Josef Aschbacher said in an interview with the Financial Times, a frank acknowledgement of the scale of Europe's challenge in catching up with the US and China.

"If we add up all the satellites that need to be launched from current and planned constellations and missions ... we see that there's a peak of launch requirements around 2029, 2030, 2031," he said.

The US and China have launched hundreds of satellites in the past five years and invested billions of dollars into developing defence and space capabilities.

Elon Musk's SpaceX alone launched 170 rockets last year, while Europe launched just eight. Musk has transformed the market with reusable rockets that have cut costs.

Aschbacher said he planned to raise the issue with ESA's member states to "ensure that we can launch our satellites with European launchers".

Europe's major space programmes all require numerous launches in the coming years. They include the Iris2 secure communications constellation due to begin in 2029, as well as expansions of the Galileo navigation system and the Copernicus Earth observation programme.

In addition, several European countries are planning their own constellations for civil or military uses.

The rising demand comes as Europe's launch capacity remains limited. Ariane 6, Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, is gradually ramping up production, while the Vega C light-lift launcher only resumed flights at the end of 2024 after a gap of several years.

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