It must be clearly stated that SpaceX is the absolute leader in reusable rocket production technologies, landing them on the ground and recovering them after the space missions are over.
The company belonging to Elona Musk may soon have another, apart from Blue Origin, a serious competitor in this matter, and that coming from the Old Continent. PLD Space also has plans to build reusable rockets. Startup was created at the University of Miguel Hernández in Spain and is already financed by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The PLD Space scientists know exactly what they are fighting for, as the market is valued at around seven billion dollars. Therefore, SpaceX must face growing competition, which will receive a lot of contracts, especially from companies from Europe.
Currently, the European startup is developing two models of rockets called ARION-1 and ARION-2. Engineers want to test their reusable rockets in flight early in 2018.
Raúl Torres, head of PLD Space, said with excitement that although his company is just starting to grow, SpaceX has 4,000 specialists at its disposal, Blue Origin 500, its team will be at least 100 by 2020.
According to him, it is quite enough to successfully implement smaller, but equally significant (in financial terms) contracts for carrying cargoes into orbit.
Looking from the point of view of the costs of rocket launches, it is known that the smaller team generates lower costs, so it can offer customers much more favorable contract terms than eg SpaceX.
