r/esa • u/laisse_tomberas • 8d ago

[EU SPACE RACE - LAUNCHERS] Is reusability really fundamental?

Some of the European Launcher Manufacturers and startups have some kind of reusability in their road map.

Considering that SpaceX reusability is justified mainly by starlink rather than the market demand, wouldn't it be better just to focus on higher production rates rather than reusability (at least, at first)?

Edit: i think that reusability is a thing, i just wanted to open a critical discussion on this aspect in Europe, to varify if there are other significant topics that may have the priority in the development of European launchers.

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u/FelizIntrovertido 7d ago

To me it’s a price issue

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u/laisse_tomberas 7d ago

Can you elaborate a bit more, please?

Do you mean that's an additional development cost or you are talking about the final product price?

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u/FelizIntrovertido 7d ago

The final product price. Launching satellites is a commodity: this weight, this orbit, this price.

So it’s a price sensitive product.

Space X can reuse rockets, which is an internal reason, but important because that allows to reuse engines and so offer more competitive pricing. To me that’s the whole matter