Arianespace CEO Stephane Israel said, “Manned flight is close to my heart; with their know-how, Europeans could do it,”Article in Aviation Week: http://aviationweek.com/world-satellite-business-week/arianespace-ceo-urges-europe-mull-manned-spaceflights?NL=AW-05&Issue=AW-05_20180913_AW-05_422&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2&utm_rid=CPEN1000002507287&utm_campaign=16439&utm_medium=email&elq2=c5034f8b89bd40b4aac61a130ca2fbed
That's kind of strange for a business perspective: manned payloads are very expensive, so launches are few and far between, so Arianespace will only capture a small fraction of the ESA budget.Cheap cargo vehicles (to refuel LOP-G or however you want to justify it) would be more launch-intensive and allow to capture a larger share of the ESA budget.
Will Ariane 6 be man-rated?A: Human exploration will be done in cooperation with other countries, and the USA are developing a launcher for human exploration, so no Ariane will not be man-rated. However nowadays manrating would not be done by increasing the margins in the design, but by using a proven commercial launcher with a good track record.
Quote from: Eric Hedman on 09/13/2018 03:26 pmArianespace CEO Stephane Israel said, “Manned flight is close to my heart; with their know-how, Europeans could do it,”Article in Aviation Week: http://aviationweek.com/world-satellite-business-week/arianespace-ceo-urges-europe-mull-manned-spaceflights?NL=AW-05&Issue=AW-05_20180913_AW-05_422&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2&utm_rid=CPEN1000002507287&utm_campaign=16439&utm_medium=email&elq2=c5034f8b89bd40b4aac61a130ca2fbedthe only thing that is stopping them is the "why" of it...why would they develop their own up down capability
Would have been a good idea in the 90s.Now it is far too late.
My answer is 'why not?'. They wanted an independent launch capability and built it. The potential of humans working and researching in LEO besides or in place of the ISS may be the reason. Starting the preliminary work now for a decade from now seems reasonable (IMHO).
Quote from: TripleSeven on 09/13/2018 03:38 pmQuote from: Eric Hedman on 09/13/2018 03:26 pmArianespace CEO Stephane Israel said, “Manned flight is close to my heart; with their know-how, Europeans could do it,”Article in Aviation Week: http://aviationweek.com/world-satellite-business-week/arianespace-ceo-urges-europe-mull-manned-spaceflights?NL=AW-05&Issue=AW-05_20180913_AW-05_422&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2&utm_rid=CPEN1000002507287&utm_campaign=16439&utm_medium=email&elq2=c5034f8b89bd40b4aac61a130ca2fbedthe only thing that is stopping them is the "why" of it...why would they develop their own up down capabilityNo. The "why" is not stopping them. The boatload of required Euros is stopping them. Remember, ESA is living on a shoestring budget compared to NASA's budget.Also, ESA has not gotten over the Hermes-debacle yet.