ESA considers righting the wrongs of Ariane 6 by turning it into a Franken-rocket

It took a while, but a consensus has emerged in Europe that the continent's space industry needs to develop reusable rockets. How to do it and how much to spend on it remain unresolved questions.

Much of the discourse around reusable rockets in Europe has focused on developing a brand new rocket that might eventually replace the Ariane 6, which debuted less than two years ago but still uses the use it and lose it model embraced by the launch industry for most of the Space Age.

The...