FARNBOROUGH, England — This year’s Farnborough International Airshow was a Mardi Gras celebration of Britain’s promised rocket-launch industry. But beyond the conga line of happy government and industry officials were a few people warning of a long Lent.
The record of companies making a business out of launching rockets without a large domestic government customer either committed or at the ready is not good. Nor is the current competitive landscape, where multiple small-satellite-dedicated rockets are in the design phase, and where larger vehicles are creating tailored small-satellite offers.
