Space travel: Europe considers use of SpaceX rockets until Ariane 6 launches

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The European Space Agency is considering temporarily sending payloads into space on SpaceX rockets. This is what ESA CEO Josef Aschbacher told the Reuters news agency. Initial talks and technical agreements have already been made. The step would take into account the fact that since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Europe no longer has access to Russian Soyuz rockets, which were used regularly before. However, nothing has been decided yet, and it is also possible that Europe will switch to Japanese or Indian missiles, says Aschbacher. He is also confident that it is only a matter of a transitional period until the European Ariane 6 is ready for use.

Too dependent on Russia

Until now, Europe has relied on the European Vega rocket for launches of small payloads, the Soyuz for medium payloads and the Ariane 5 for the largest payloads. Actually, a continuous transition from Ariane 5 to Ariane 6 was planned, but this has recently been delayed more and more. The first launch of an Ariane 6 was postponed a few weeks ago to 2023 at the earliest. The remaining Ariane 5 launches are fully booked and the Soyuz is no longer available. Whether an alternative will actually be needed for a transitional period will become clear in autumn, says Aschbacher. Then it will become certain when Ariane 6 can take off. But the chances that a handful of launches will have to be launched with another rocket are already high.

All remaining launches with Russian Soyuz rockets from the European spaceport Kourou in French Guiana had been cancelled at the beginning of March. This was a reaction to the Russian attack on Ukraine, a renewed use of Russian technology seems out of the question. Aschbacher now told Reuters the war was a wake-up call that had highlighted that there had been too much reliance on Russia. Particularly affected by the move away from Russian rockets was the space company OneWeb, which is building a constellation for satellite internet. It later switched to SpaceX for launches.

Elon Musk's aerospace company has so far benefited particularly from the discontinuation of the Russian alternatives and is collecting more and more orders. SpaceX has been demonstrating for weeks and months that it can master launches at high frequency with the development of its own satellite internet Starlink. In July, it broke its own record for the most rocket launches in a year.

(mho)