Concern in Europe that the Ariane 6 and Vega-C rockets will not be competitive
&gt;Thanks to its reusable, low-cost Falcon 9 rocket,<p>Is the Falcon 9 really low-cost or maybe is it that NASA and the American government is indirectly subsidizing the company by overpaying for their launch contracts?<p>Rocket technology hasn&#x27;t really changed in decades. Reusability is not a panacea. It increases complexity, decreases safety and much of the cost savings are mitigated by the fact that you have to carry extra fuel for the return back (thereby cutting into the amount of payload you can carry). The space shuttle was reusable and yet, it is generally seen as a disappointment (and I don&#x27;t believe for a second SpaceX engineers are better than NASA engineers).