Paris (AFP)

Arianespace President Stéphane Israel on Monday called for a "new European institutional ambition" in space, in order to less depend on commercial orders and allow the European launcher to have more visibility.

There have been 61 launches worldwide since the beginning of the year, the vast majority of which have been fired by government or military agencies.

Two-thirds of the 19 US launches responded to orders from NASA or the military, the 16 Chinese launches are also qualified as "institutional", as well as 13 of the 14 Russian launches, the four Indian launches and the Japanese launch. he enumerated.

Conversely, in Europe, six of the seven launches since the beginning of the year were commercial launches.

"We have a two-thirds commercial and an institutional third order book and we are the only launcher in the world to be exposed to the market," Israel told reporters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the profession. , the World Satellite Business Week.

He notably estimated that a "competitor" he did not name, the American SpaceX, benefited from a backlog in value dedicated "up to 80%" to US institutions ".

European states, following a meeting of the European Space Agency (ESA), have committed to five institutional launches for future launchers Ariane 6 and Vega C.

But with the US budget devoted to space (civilian and military) from $ 48 billion in 2016 to 60 billion in 2020, the renewal for space exploration missions or the growth of connectivity needs, favorable according to him. public-private partnerships, especially to cover isolated territories, "I think this fully justifies a new European institutional ambition," he said.

- "Group orders" -

"I realize that the credits are not infinite," he said, welcoming the draft budget of the European Commission that provides 16 billion euros for space activities in the period 2021-2027.

But it would be desirable for Europe to contribute more to space exploration missions, that this contribution should be made by using European launchers, "particularly Ariane 6", and that it change its terms of contracting with "big players". group orders ", guarantees of visibility.

"It's complicated in Europe, because you have the European Commission, the ESA, Eudmedsat (exploitation of weather satellites, Ed) and the States.There, there is still work to do," said Stéphane Israel.

In terms of backlog, Arianespace has a total of 52 launches: 11 for Ariane 5 (three contracts won this year), 24 for Soyuz (+2), eight for Ariane 6 (two contracts won and one transferred from Ariane 5) and new for Vega (+3).

Arianespace, which has made seven launches since January 1, has "four launch opportunities" by the end of the year for Ariane 5 and Soyuz, including one since the launch of Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

Ariane 6 is due to make its first flight in the second half of 2020. The future Vega C rocket will also have its maiden flight in 2020, but this will be done "according to Vega's flight return schedule," Israel said.

On July 10, the European light-weight launcher, in charge of orbiting a military satellite of the United Arab Emirates, had failed, leading to its destruction as a precaution. It was Vega's first failure after fourteen consecutive successes since the start of operations in 2012. Arianespace and ESA are hoping for a return flight in the first quarter of 2020.

© 2019 AFP