PARIS — French lawmakers sought reassurances from the French space agency, CNES, and Ariane rocket prime contractor ArianeGroup that Europe was not fighting a losing battle against the advanced technologies — and generous government support — of U.S. competitors SpaceX, Blue Origin and others.
CNES and ArianeGroup responded that the launch-service business model that worked for 30 years for the Ariane system now appears to be collapsing as geostationary-orbit satellite orders are few and the volume and timing of low-orbit constellations remains unclear . . .
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