The Ariane rocket project must be one of the biggest embarrassments not only in space aviation, but as a wholesale indictment of government-funded projects that have a direct comparison with market-based competitors.
That the lesson learnt from this is "Space should not be dominated by market forces" probably explains the whole difference for why the US are the most dynamic economy in the world and Europe is nowhere close.
Why they haven't thrown their wasteful rocket design out of the window and instead asked a team a tenth of the size to try and copy-paste the Falcon design is beyond me.
That the lesson learnt from this is "Space should not be dominated by market forces" probably explains the whole difference for why the US are the most dynamic economy in the world and Europe is nowhere close.
Why they haven't thrown their wasteful rocket design out of the window and instead asked a team a tenth of the size to try and copy-paste the Falcon design is beyond me.