There is a lot to like here. As always, it's a thoughtful treatment of a problem that is overdue for thoughtful treatment.
But....I just can't help the sense (and it is a depressing sense) that the European failures in space are just the natural results of far more fundamental problems -- problems that your "Socialism on One Planet" essay last spring teased rather well. Those problems go well beyond stifling bureaucracy and regulatory apparatuses; I think the most fundamental issue is that Europe is a rapidly aging society, older, indeed, than it ever has been before at any point in history. And older societies struggle to find the energy for new solutions, for growth, for opportunity. Instead, what enthusiasm we *do* see is for "de-growth" initiatives. The rapid-fire deindustrialization that Germany, the UK, the Low Countries are currently undertaking just cannot make sense outside of that.
Does that make building a vibrant European space industry an impossible exercise? I would hate to suggest that. But it clearly makes it more difficult. And I don't have an easy answer for that.
I would argue that in order to get Europe out of the malaise you describe, we have to have goals - a reason to reform the system instead of just drifting through the "end of history" and diving up a dwindling pile of 20th century spoils.
Hello Peter,
There is a lot to like here. As always, it's a thoughtful treatment of a problem that is overdue for thoughtful treatment.
But....I just can't help the sense (and it is a depressing sense) that the European failures in space are just the natural results of far more fundamental problems -- problems that your "Socialism on One Planet" essay last spring teased rather well. Those problems go well beyond stifling bureaucracy and regulatory apparatuses; I think the most fundamental issue is that Europe is a rapidly aging society, older, indeed, than it ever has been before at any point in history. And older societies struggle to find the energy for new solutions, for growth, for opportunity. Instead, what enthusiasm we *do* see is for "de-growth" initiatives. The rapid-fire deindustrialization that Germany, the UK, the Low Countries are currently undertaking just cannot make sense outside of that.
Does that make building a vibrant European space industry an impossible exercise? I would hate to suggest that. But it clearly makes it more difficult. And I don't have an easy answer for that.
I would argue that in order to get Europe out of the malaise you describe, we have to have goals - a reason to reform the system instead of just drifting through the "end of history" and diving up a dwindling pile of 20th century spoils.
Good luck! 😊