Europe wants to build a fully reusable heavy-lift rocket

Europe announced a study that would look into building a fully reusable rocket to further compete on the world launch stage — a direct nod to SpaceX’s success developing its Starship rocket and a further move to reusable rockets.

ESA study of the European Heavy-Lift Launcher

The European Space Agency has partnered with ArianeGroup and Rocket Factory Augsburg to conduct the “PROTEIN” investigation into a larger rocket for European needs. Most interesting, the rocket in question should be a heavy-lift rocket, similar to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy or ULA’s Vulcan rockets, and fully reusable like SpaceX’s Starship.

Europe has struggled to compete with the rise of commercial launchers. Currently, the country only has one successful launch provider, Arianespace, which flies a small-lift rocket called Vega and a heavy-lift rocket called Ariane 5. An Ariane 6 rocket is on the way but likely will not fly until late this year or next, and has been under development for over a decade.

There isn’t much known about this rocket or what Europe’s plans are past Ariane 6 when it comes to rocket development, but this study shows some signs. However, this is all led by ESA, with ESA likely being the rocket’s only potential customer. Therefore, it is not solving Europe’s problem of not having a thriving and self-motivating commercial space industry.

Can Europe compete with US commercial companies?

While designing a rocket by committee probably isn’t the way to go if you want this rocket to be developed timely, this study is a step in the right direction. Currently, SpaceX is the only company actively working on a fully reusable rocket. If successful, this class of new launchers could significantly disrupt the market. A market that was just recently disrupted by the same company not too long ago with reusable first stages.

There must be a major cultural change in Europe if they wish to compete with US launchers. However, there might just not be room for a thriving commercial launch business in Europe if companies are already comfortable shipping their satellites overseas. Europe wants (and needs) its own sovereign launch options, and if they are to be competitive with commercial possibilities, it will need some sort of reusability.

The study goes until September of this year, when we will hopefully learn more about what they believe is possible in Europe.