ESA Head Warns Europe Needs Its Own Reusable Launch Vehicle

The head of the European Space Association (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, has warned that Europe needs to quickly develop its own reusable launch vehicle in order to catch up with the efforts of American companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin. The wheels are in motion to get this done, he said, but more could be done to expedite it and give the ESA more affordable launch vehicle options in the future.
Although much of SpaceX’s efforts (and headlines) in 2025 are focused on the next-generation Starship lift vehicle, the Falcon 9 has become the backbone of the modern space industry. It has been launched over 550 times in the past decade, with the reusable boosters making these launchers more affordable than classic launch designs. That’s what Europe needs, argues Aschbacher, with many potential companies vying for that spot.
There are five in total, with the ESA planning to cut that down to just two potential options—or even a singular one—at a meeting in Germany this November. This will be the next step in getting a European reusable rocket market off the ground. In the meantime, the ESA will continue to operate Ariane 6 as a launch option.
“Ariane 6 is an excellent rocket—it’s very precise,” Aschbacher said. It’s launched three times this year, with two additional launches planned before the end of 2025. But reusable is the future the ESA is banking on. It’s what Aschbacher calls a “paradigm shift” from previous plans, according to Phys.org.
One of the big reasons the ESA wants to push for a reusable rocket design is so it can consider more low-cost, high-priority launches, like constellation satellites. Following the success of Starlink, China and Russia are developing their own constellations, and many European nations now consider it vital that Europe develops its own too. A reusable rocket would make that more viable, as the launches wouldn’t need to be as profitable to make it worthwhile.
The EU is currently developing Iris2, a network similar to Starlink that will reportedly come online in 2030. Ashbacher highlighted how the EU’s Galileo GPS alternative came over a decade after the American option and ended up being superior. Iris2 could be the same, he suggested.
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