Europe Bets on a Winged, Partially Reusable Heavy-Lifter to Rival Starship

DLR researchers propose the RLV C5—a winged, partially reusable European heavy-lift able to place 70+ tonnes in orbit using a SpaceLiner-style booster recovered by aircraft, achieving a payload fraction of about 74%. SpaceX’s Starship, already flying, targets full reusability with ~59 t to orbit today and potential upgrades to ~115 t reusable or ~188 t expendable. The paper frames RLV C5 as an incremental, cost- and risk-efficient path for Europe to gain independent access to super-heavy lift, leveraging existing concepts, while acknowledging Starship’s larger scale and ongoing development. It’s a strategic choice rather than a direct rivalry.