18/11/2020 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 17 November, Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that they were launching an inquiry commission into the failure of the Vega launcher the previous day (see EUROPE 12603/31). The independent inquiry commission will be jointly chaired by Daniel Neuenschwander, the Director of Space Transportation at the ESA, and Stéphane Israël, the CEO of Arianespace. This is the second launcher failure in the space of a year (see EUROPE 12291/21), which, according to some experts, may be the final blow for Europe’s desire to break into the small launcher market. The failure has sent out the wrong message at the wrong time, as the ESA and EU Member States are meeting this Friday to consider Europe’s international role in the space sector (EUROPE 12600/19). (PH)