France 2030: what is this “cargo spaceship” on which Emmanuel Macron wants to bet?

France, the leading European space country, must be a driving force in the development of human flights, a sovereign capacity that the old continent still does not have. Unlike the United States, Russia, China and India, which must send astronauts into space in 2025 with its own spacecraft. This is why, Paris "will support the development of a cargo spacecraft, capable of transporting cargo to future space stations", declared Emmanuel Macron this Monday, from Toulouse, on the sidelines of the presentation of the new axes of the France 2030 plan, dedicated to accelerating innovation.

The Head of State considers the space freight market, the first step before manned flights, “potentially considerable, both in terms of its civil and military needs”. Today, two stations orbit the Earth - the International Space Station (ISS) and China's Tiang gong. By 2030, between 4 and 6 stations should be in service, including private space stations under development, such as Axiom, the Orbital Reef luxury hotel, Space Lab, etc.

At the end of November, the European Space Agency (Esa), of which France is the second largest financier, behind Germany, decided to take a first step towards manned flights, by announcing the launch of a competition. The winners will first have to carry out, in 2028, a demonstration flight of a space cargo ship to the ISS. The ship will have to dock there and then return to Earth. Then, they will have to develop a manned version, capable of reaching private stations in low orbit but also the Moon and Mars. Europe thus wants to free itself from SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, on which it depends to send its astronauts into space.

The old continent wants to proceed in stages, as SpaceX did. The latter first designed a space cargo ship, the Dragon, which made its first flight in 2012. Then, its manned version, the Crew Dragon, which made a successful first flight to the ISS, without a crew, in March 2019 , followed, in May 2020, by its first manned mission, thus giving the United States back its independence in this area.

“ESA will support the approach and France 2030 too,” insists Emmanuel Macron, for whom “the space race will determine the industrial advances of tomorrow.” An allusion to the fallout from space programs, notably Apollo's conquest of the Moon at the end of the 1960s, to the benefit of entire sections of the industry. “We must embark on this competition, but with the same method as for the launchers, by opening the way to private initiatives, by authorizing the riskiest bets,” argues the President of the Republic.

Esa also announced, last November, the organization, in 2024, of a competition, called the “Launcher Challenge”, to select two to three mini-launcher projects in 2025, in order to help them grow. The result is 150 million euros in public funding for each project selected. Then, by 2028, a new competition will decide between the successors of Ariane 6, Ariane Group thus losing its monopoly in the development of heavy launchers.

In France, the space component (1.5 billion euros) of France 2030 has already accelerated the emergence of eight micro and mini-launcher projects as well as four constellation projects. It is now called upon to stimulate projects in the field of spacecraft. “I know that we have nuggets that are maturing,” notes Emmanuel Macron. And, in fact, several projects have already been launched in Europe. Among the latter, that of the Franco-German start-up The Exploration Company, whose founder, Hélène Huby, former director of innovation at Airbus defense

The young company is working on the development of a durable and reusable spacecraft, called Nyx (the Greek goddess of the night), also dedicated to resupplying public and private space stations in low Earth orbit and to lunar missions. Entirely financed at this stage by private funds, the Nyx spacecraft (8 to 10 tonnes on the scale and 4 meters in diameter) aims to be ready to carry out its maiden flight in 2026, with a very first docking with the ISS, then return to Earth.

For its part, Ariane Group presented, in September 2022, Susie (Smart Upper Stage for Innovative Exploration), a project launched in 2020. It is a 100% reusable, versatile and low-cost upper stage, intended for meet European institutional and commercial needs in terms of space transport of cargo, payloads and astronauts. Ariane Group engineers have in fact imagined Susie in two versions: an automatic space cargo ship (7 tonnes of cargo) and a capsule for manned flights for five astronauts. Placed at the top of Ariane 6, in place of the fairing, Susie targets diversified missions of transporting astronauts, towing, inspecting or upgrading satellites and other payloads, refueling stations space in fuel, food and equipment, transport of elements to build orbital infrastructures such as space stations.

France has its place in future competitions. “We will fight, we will be the best and we will consolidate around us, on the launchers as well as on the constellation (Iris2, the European connectivity infrastructure which includes all the players in the European space sector, Editor's note)”, launches Emmanuel Macron. A call for European cooperation while “some of our historic partners have become competitors” to the detriment of a necessary “European unity”. An allusion to Germany which contests French leadership in the space industry.