Watch as the Ariane-5, Europe's heavy-lift rocket, sets off on its final mission
To compound matters, Europe can no longer use Russian Soyuz rockets, and its smaller vehicle, the Vega-C, has been benched following an in-flight failure last December.€1.4bn Euclid space telescopeThe unavailability of home-grown rockets prompted European Space Agency director general Josef Aschbacher to declare recently that "Europe finds itself... in an acute launcher crisis".
Entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company has upended the launch market with his re-usable Falcons, undercutting the Ariane's price point. Europe is moving towards re-usability but the necessary technologies will not be in service until the 2030s.
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