I wonder, couldn't the Exploration Company's Nyx capsule be considered the BAE Multirole Capsule of today in this Hermes-SUSIE parallelism? Is there anything stopping ESA from funding/purchasing Nyx as a crew capsule, while Ariane develops SUSIE? Could Nyx be funded exclusively by private entities? This way ESA could "risk" funds on a more ambitious project like SUSIE with Nyx as a safer, more realistic backup plan.
Fascinating article. I fully agree with your conclusion, the European space industry has a penchant for being over-ambitious. Slow and steady wins the race, or at the very least, gets you to the finish line.
Unrelated, as one of those 16 paid subscribers, I don't get any particular satisfaction from having access to secret publications. Quite the opposite, I wish I could easily share this with my colleagues. So as far as I am concerned, that is an unnecessary limitation to your exposure.
I wonder, couldn't the Exploration Company's Nyx capsule be considered the BAE Multirole Capsule of today in this Hermes-SUSIE parallelism? Is there anything stopping ESA from funding/purchasing Nyx as a crew capsule, while Ariane develops SUSIE? Could Nyx be funded exclusively by private entities? This way ESA could "risk" funds on a more ambitious project like SUSIE with Nyx as a safer, more realistic backup plan.
Fascinating article. I fully agree with your conclusion, the European space industry has a penchant for being over-ambitious. Slow and steady wins the race, or at the very least, gets you to the finish line.
Unrelated, as one of those 16 paid subscribers, I don't get any particular satisfaction from having access to secret publications. Quite the opposite, I wish I could easily share this with my colleagues. So as far as I am concerned, that is an unnecessary limitation to your exposure.