ArianeGroup has no Plan B

Late last year, a French trade union representing ArianeGroup employees made a striking assessment of the company’s future.

Oct 14 • Andrew Parsonson

5

WTF is going on with POLSA? Part two: The documents

European Spaceflight has obtained 24 pages of documentation through a freedom-of-information request.

Oct 7 • Andrew Parsonson

2

September 2026

How Much Independence Does Europe Really Need on the Moon?

A note on sourcing: this piece draws on interviews with ispace-EUROPE, ESA, and Lars Petzold of the European Space Policy Institute, conducted…

Sep 17 • Andrew Parsonson

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August 2026

WTF is going on with the Polish Space Agency?

The Polish Space Agency (POLSA) has found itself in the middle of a deeply uncomfortable labour dispute, and it would quite like everyone to stop…

Aug 27 • Andrew Parsonson

18

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Is ArianeGroup helping build New Glenn?

While Blue Origin is picking up the pieces of its Cape Canaveral launch pad, financial filings submitted earlier this year by ArianeGroup’s German…

Aug 5 • Andrew Parsonson

11

July 2026

What happened to the UK’s European Launcher Challenge contribution?

Sometime in the coming weeks, if all goes to plan, the first orbital rocket to lift off from British soil will be German.

Jul 22 • Andrew Parsonson

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May 2026

A spark of independence

ESA’s Rosalind Franklin mission is scheduled to be launched on its journey to Mars in 2028, marking the beginning of the rover’s long-delayed trip to…

May 12 • Andrew Parsonson

11

April 2026

Artemis 2 is not a European triumph

The mission is over.

Apr 14 • Andrew Parsonson

29

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March 2026

Inside ICEYE’s push to meet surging defence demand

ICEYE is a Finnish Earth Observation data provider and satellite manufacturer scaling to meet growing demand for sovereign intelligence from space, as…

Mar 30 • Andrew Parsonson

10

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What does “exclusively peaceful” really mean?

In a 30 January release, the European Space Agency announced that it had appointed Laurent Jaffart as the head of the agency’s newly formed Resilience…

Mar 23 • Andrew Parsonson

15

2

February 2026

Interview with RFA CEO Indulis Kalnins

As promised, this week features my first interview of 2026 for the newsletter’s paid subscribers.

Feb 9 • Andrew Parsonson

5

Why did the UK abandon Orbex? Part 1.5

On 26 January, I published the first part of the Why Did the UK Abandon Orbex series, in which I promised a part two following the outcome of a Freedom…

Feb 6 • Andrew Parsonson

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