Sour Grapes is when you disparage something that has proven unattainable. Coping is a slang that refers to a mechanism or a self-delusion that an individual clings to in order deal with a situation.
European Space Agency Director of Space Transportation Toni Tolker-Nielsen says he does not think Starship will be a game-changer or a real competitor. This huge launcher is designed to fly people to the moon and Mars. We made the choice of not being reusable with Ariane 6. Our launch needs are so low that it wouldn’t make sense economically. So, we don’t really need it at this point.
The inaugural Ariane 6 flight is expected on 9 July 2024. It is a Falcon 9 class rocket but without any reusability.
SpaceX initial plans are for 44 Starship-Super Heavy launches per year through NASA Launch Complex 39A.
SpaceX should be able to recover the Super Heavy Booster starting at the end of July and make full recovery of the upper stage for rapidly reusability of the entire rocket. This will enable 100 times more launches with ten times the payload of Falcon 9. In 2-3 years SpaceX will have one thousand times the launch capacity and will bring down the price of launch by ten to one hundred times.
Ariane is not the only company coping and fearing the gamechanging SpaceX Starship. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and the rocket company Blue Origin, has filed a request to the FAA to limit the number of SpaceX Starship Launches. Blue Origin has never put any payload into orbit. They have only had suborbital flights. Although they have made the BE4 rocket engine and it was used by the ULA Vulcan rocket to go to orbit.
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