The head of the European Space Agency dismissed concerns on Thursday that cooperation in Europe is dwindling as Italy charts its own course on rocket operations and weighs a potential agreement with Elon Musk's Starlink on satellites.Italy's Avio is due to take over operations of the Vega C rocket on behalf of ESA, pulling the Italian-built rocket away from Europe's main launch operator, Arianespace.Meanwhile Rome is evaluating potential supply accords with Starlink, and Musk said on Monday that he was "ready to provide Italy the most secure and advanced connectivity!"."We are observing very carefully how much nationalisation takes place and how much European activity take place," ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told Reuters."Space is becoming more and more strategic and important. It is also clear that investments in space are increasing... My job is to underline the benefit to European countries of participating in European programmes rather than national ones."Reports in the past week of a potential role for Starlink in Italy come weeks after the European Commission announced funds for the long-awaited IRIS² constellation, designed to offer secure communications for European governments and agencies."It is such a dimension ... that it requires a European approach. You need European programmes," Aschbacher said on the sidelines of an annual presentation by the Paris-based agency.
