Europe invested about 3.6 billion euros in the development of the Ariane 6 rocket and its launch site in French Guiana, but that's not the end of it. The European Space Agency's director general, Josef Aschbacher, has publicly confirmed that, based on nine flights a year, European governments will still need to subsidize each launch with between 32 million and 38 million euros per flight. If we amortize the development costs with the ongoing subsidy, European taxpayers have put more than 100 million euros into each launch before the customer pays the rocket's operator, Arianespace, anything.

Europe's current goal is to fly the Ariane 6 rocket nine or 10 times a year, but given growing global demand for launch and lack of capacity, there is discussion about increasing the number of Ariane 6 rockets available. In June, Aschbacher said Europe is on track to have the capability to launch Ariane 6 a total of 10 times next year, meeting the target set for Arianespace. However, he added that the agency is looking at various scenarios to increase that capacity to 12, 15, or even 20 launches a year.

Because the Ariane 6 rocket is expendable, Europe must increase production of all vehicle elements. Aschbacher hopes to have "clarity" from European ministers by year-end on plans for scaling up production. The question may not be easy, as ministers must invest in factories and logistics. They may decide funds would be better invested in the next generation of Ariane rocket incorporating partial reuse to better compete with reusable vehicles in the United States and China.