In August 2018 we’ve asked dr. Martin Sippe, chief of the System Launcher Space Segment in DLR (German Space Agency) to share his thoughts about CNES-proposed Ariane NEXT and how SpaceLiner fits into the grand scope of European launchers:

The latest paper I have on CNES’ Ariane NEXT proposal is from 2016. I am not aware about any major technical updates published recently. This CNES proposal is still at an early technical stage and no development program on Ariane NEXT has been decided or is due in the near term. On DLR-side a large number of different technical options for European RLV 1st stages as the next generation European launcher are under systematic investigation. A paper on some results will be published at IAC 2018. The German position on one or more promising concepts will be based on these investigations. We are continuously in exchange with CNES on launcher concepts and intent to discuss a potentially common proposal in the future.

From our perspective an operational target date of 2030 is not realistic under current European constraints and considering the not yet finished Ariane 6 development and industrial production ramp-up. 2035 is probably a little bit more realistic for a completely new next generation vehicle. Then the Semi-RLV of our roadmap is more in competition with the Ariane NEXT proposal. That’s by purpose because the debate in Europe is by far not finished. DLR strongly believes that the next generation launcher of the 2030s needs to be technologically more ambitious than a copy of Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy.