European Space Agency (ESA) CEO Josef Ashbacher, in an interview with the Financial Times, warned that the companies of the American billionaire Elon Musk could take a dominant position in the developing space economy, since de facto they already dictate their own rules.
“Amazing situation, but one person owns half of all working satellites in the world. In fact, he sets the rules, and the rest of the world, including Europe, does not react quickly enough, ”he stressed.
Ashbakher called on European countries to ensure that their companies can compete fairly with SpaceX, which is deploying its Starlink satellite network in orbit. He explained that in the future in space there will be many more restrictions regarding frequencies and orbital positions.
“European governments should have a stake in jointly providing European [satellite service] providers with equal opportunities for fair market competition,” Ashbakher said.
He noted that American regulators are interested in the US dominating this area, and the corresponding processes are happening “very quickly and with great force.”
On December 4, the American company SpaceX broke the annual record of launches of its own heavy rocket Falcon 9. In 2021, as of December 3, 27 launches of such carriers were made. The previous record of 26 Falcon 9 launches was set in 2020.
