14.06.2024
During his participation at the Paris Air Forum, MaiaSpace CEO Yohann Leroy discussed the mini-launcher market alongside Jörn Spurmann, Chief Commercial Officer at Rocket Factory Augsburg – RFA, Raúl Verdú, Chief Business Development Officer at PLD Space and Toni Tolker-Nielsen, Director of Space Transportation at European Space Agency – ESA.
This discussion allowed us to outline the competitive landscape of the mini-launcher market and to highlight the benefits reusability brings in the economics of a mini launcher developed with private money, namely competitive access to a wider market. This wider access leads to higher cadence, hence easier amortization of non-recurring costs, faster recurring costs reduction, more launch opportunities, and better resilience.
To be successful, we need also to go fast, foster a more offensive risk culture, accepting failures as opportunities to learn, accelerate, and ultimately reduce costs. This is what MaiaSpace does, bringing together the best of both worlds: the expertise of the European space sector, and the agility, speed and risk-taking culture of a start-up.