A DLR analysis indicates that while Starship could shape the future of heavy-lift launch systems, Europe may instead focus on developing a smaller, more efficient, partially reusable alternative.

In the summer of 2023, SpaceX reached a milestone long anticipated in aerospace engineering: Starship, a towering stainless-steel rocket powered by 33 engines, ignited them simultaneously and lifted off from the Texas coast.

Figure 1. Starship liftoff with full engine ignition on IFT-5

The test flight was not perfect, but it successfully left the launch pad. In a later test flight, the Super Heavy booster achieved another milestone by returning and being caught mid-air by the launch tower’s mechanical arms, signaling a new phase in spaceflight capabilities. Figure 1 shows Starship liftoff with full engine ignition on IFT-5.

Starship is designed to carry over 100 metric tons to low Earth orbit with full reusability. If it meets this goal, it would become both the most powerful and most cost-efficient rocket ever built. As a result, space agencies and private companies are no longer debating its potential impact, but instead considering how to adapt to a future shaped by it.

Scrutiny Over Starship’s Performance Figures

Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have produced one of the most comprehensive independent evaluations of Starship’s performance so far. Rather than relying on SpaceX’s published figures, they analyzed publicly available footage from the first four integrated flight tests, extracting moment-by-moment telemetry to build and validate detailed performance models. Their results suggest Starship’s real-world capabilities are more precisely bounded, yet still highly impressive.

The study estimates that the current fully reusable Starship can deliver about 59 tons to low Earth orbit—comparable to the Falcon Heavy operating without booster recovery. A next-generation variant, featuring Raptor 3 engines and larger fuel tanks, could reach around 115 tons in reusable mode and up to 188 tons in expendable configuration, exceeding even the Saturn V. The paper also highlights a proposed European alternative, the RLV C5, designed to lift more than 70 tons to orbit.

Europe’s Alternative Prioritizes Efficiency Over Scale

The concept combines a winged, reusable booster from DLR’s long-running SpaceLiner program with an expendable upper stage optimized for maximum payload delivery. It uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen—an efficiency advantage over the methane-oxygen combination used in Starship’s Raptor engines—and does not rely on vertical rocket landings for recovery.

Instead, the booster returns to Earth by gliding back through the atmosphere on wings and is then captured mid-air by a large subsonic aircraft. Though it may sound highly futuristic, DLR researchers argue this approach has practical benefits, as it eliminates the need to reserve propellant for landing burns, allowing more of the fuel to be dedicated to reaching orbit.

By comparison, Starship is over three times heavier at liftoff than the RLV C5, largely because of the systems required for full reusability, including heat shield tiles, landing propellant, structural reinforcements, and aerodynamic surfaces. As a result, only about 40% of its delivered mass to orbit is usable payload.

In contrast, the RLV C5’s simpler, partially reusable design allows a much higher fraction of its mass—around 74%—to be dedicated to payload. While it has lower overall lift capacity, it compensates with greater efficiency.

Reusability Drives Strategic Trade-Offs

The DLR researchers emphasize that this is not a direct competition, but rather a divergence in design philosophy. Starship’s large payload capacity and rapid reuse make it well suited for missions that demand extreme scale, such as lunar infrastructure, Mars exploration, and massive satellite deployments.

By contrast, the RLV C5 is intended to provide Europe with independent access to super-heavy lift capabilities without the high cost and complexity of developing a fully reusable system from the outset. Built from technologies already under study, it could serve as a transitional stage within the SpaceLiner program, eventually leading toward a fully reusable European launcher.

Flight Hardware Still Matters

There is an important caveat that the DLR team openly acknowledges: Starship is already flying, albeit imperfectly, while the RLV C5 remains a conceptual design [1]. The gap between a flight-proven system and a paper concept is significant.

Starship’s thermal protection system, essential for surviving reentry, suffered major damage during the fourth test flight and required a full redesign. Moreover, achieving the rapid and complete reusability that underpins its economic model is still an unresolved engineering challenge.

Although Europe begins from a disadvantage, lead author Moritz Herberhold and colleagues at the German Aerospace Center argue that the RLV C5 represents a viable route for developing independent, partially reusable super-heavy launch capability. They suggest that in space access, a more deliberate and efficient approach can sometimes outweigh simply being first.

Reference:

1. https://scitechdaily.com/europe-just-unveiled-a-serious-rival-to-spacexs-starship/

Cite this article:

Janani R (2026), Europe Introduces a Major Competitor to SpaceX’s Starship Program, AnaTechmaz, pp.863