ESA Putting Arianespace Finances Under the Microscope

摘要

European governments have ordered a detailed audit of the sources and uses of money at the Arianespace commercial launch consortium and its industrial suppliers as a condition of granting the company's request for what may be a permanent financial aid package to as-sure its ongoing financial viability, Euro-pean government and industry officials said.They said the audits, being led by the 18-nation European Space Agency (ESA) with the help of outside account-ing experts, should settle the issue of whether Europe's launch vehicle organ-ization is unable to report a regular profit because it is overpaying its share-holder suppliers or otherwise wasting money, or because mediocre financial results are inevitable at any enterprise building and launching space-launch vehicles.