Europe relies on SpaceX to fill the launcher gap

WASHINGTON Europe, temporarily deprived of its own access to space, plans to rely more on SpaceX to launch spacecraft key to science and navigation as it works to restore its launch capabilities.

The successful final launch of Ariane 5 on 5 July means that Europe temporarily lacks the ability to launch payloads into orbit. Ariane 5’s successor, Ariane 6, is still under development and looks increasingly unlikely to be ready for its maiden launch before 2024. Soyuz is no longer available in Europe following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Vega C remains grounded after a December 2022 launch failure and its return to flight, previously scheduled for later this year, is being delayed after an anomaly during a static test fire on June 28 of the rocket’s Zefiro 40 engine.

The original version of Vega, which does not use the Zefiro 40, is expected to resume launches in September, but most of the launches on Vega’s manifesto are of the more powerful Vega C. European startups such as Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg are working on small launchers whose first flights could take place later this year. But for larger payloads, there are few short-term options for European organizations.

This situation led the European Space Agency to announce in October 2022 that it was moving two missions to SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Canaveral, Florida. The Asteroid Hera mission will launch on a Falcon 9 in October 2024 after originally manifesting on Ariane 6.

More European missions are likely to fly to Falcon 9. In a June 29 briefing following an ESA Council meeting, the agency announced that the Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer, or EarthCARE, mission, which has been moved from Soyuz at Vega C last October would instead probably fly on the Falcon 9 in the second quarter of 2024.

Although the announcement coincided with news of the Zefiro 40 test anomaly, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said the change was not directly linked to that, but rather to the failed launch last December, as well as changes in dimensions of EarthCARE that would have required modifications to the Vega C payload fairing to accommodate it.

With these two elements, I asked my inspector general to reassess the situation, he said at the briefing. The conclusion of this assessment by the Inspector General was that I recommended not flying the Vega C. This was based on the previous Vega C failure review, which recommended no configuration changes, such as payload fairing, on the initial series of Vega C launches

In the same briefing, ESA officials said they were also in talks with SpaceX to launch up to four Galileo satellites on Falcon 9 vehicles. We are moving forward with negotiations which will hopefully be concluded soon with SpaceX, he said Javier Benedicto, director of navigation at ESA. This is conditional on completing negotiations with SpaceX and obtaining approvals from the European Union and its security agreement with SpaceX.

In a July 1 interview following Euclid’s launch, Aschbacher said it will be up to the European Commission to decide when and how to launch those Galileo satellites. We have provided all the technical information regarding launcher compatibility, which the Commission has, he said. Now it’s up to them to make a decision.

He noted that Euclid was not the first time ESA had used the Falcon 9. Sentinel-6A, also known as Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, was a joint US-European Earth science mission that launched on a Falcon 9 in November 2020. ESA astronauts have also flown Crew Dragon missions. However, in those cases the launches were procured and supervised by NASA, not ESA.

Aschbacher praised SpaceX for its role in launching Euclid. SpaceX has been very proactive, very quick, very professional in providing this launch service. And I am very happy now that this has been successfully conducted.

He reiterated past comments that problems with Ariane 6 and Vega C and the loss of Soyuz had created a launcher crisis in Europe. We are in a crisis and we should use the opportunity to convert this crisis into actions and changes that need to be taken to develop a robust launch system for Europe in the future, she said, looking beyond Ariane 6 and Vega C .

It also took a long-term view, predicting that this temporary gap in European launch capabilities will be forgotten in the long term once Ariane 6 and Vega C are operational. Then these few months will be a blip, she said. Of course, we are now right in the middle and it is difficult for everyone to accept the current situation. But you have to see it in the long run.

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