- Arianespace CEO, Stéphane Israel believes SpaceX is colonizing low-orbit
- The CEO also noted the firm is monopolizing the sector
- He warns having one person own this pace could result in the Wild West
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk dreams of having 42,000 Startlink satellites in low-Earth orbit – but others think the idea is a nightmare.
Arianespace CEO, Stéphane Israel, commented on the project during an interview saying the California company is trying to ‘colonize’ low-Earth orbit and is monopolizing the sector.
He warned that having one person own this area could result in a ‘Wild West’ rather than a sustainable space and calls for regulations of low orbits.
Arianespace, based in France, is the world’s first commercial satellite company that has been operating since 1980.
And its CEO has ‘denounced the all-out offensive of American Elon Musk’ ranging from satellites to the launcher, as reported by Le Monde.
During the interview, Israel noted two major issues with the StarLink project.
The first being that it monopolizes low-Earth orbit, as SpaceX would build, own and operate every single satellite.
‘When he sells to the US state, he sells twice as much as when he sells to the market, and his project today is no longer simply a launcher, its project is to be the builder, the launcher and the operator of 40,000 satellites and therefore it is a project of monopolization of the sector.
‘To us, the Europeans, it is indeed the way we will react to stay in the race to stay in the race.’
The other problem that arises, according to Israel, is blanketing the entire area is a kind of colonization, as it can only accommodate so many satellites.
