The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering cooperation with Tesla boss Elon Musk’s company SpaceX as a temporary replacement for Russian Soyuz rockets. “There are two and a half alternatives,” ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told Reuters news agency.
These are SpaceX and a cooperation with Japan or possibly India. SpaceX is certainly an option. There are talks with the US rival of the European Arianespace, which are still in an exploratory phase.
Most important is the technical compatibility with the existing ESA equipment. This must be thoroughly examined before the organization requests a binding business offer.
“It’s not like getting on a bus,” Aschbacher said, adding that the US company’s technical solutions seemed more viable than those of the Indians and the Japanese in this regard. However, the final decision also depends on the still unclear schedule for the delayed first launch of the European Ariane 6 rocket.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. So far, the company has attracted new customers with its Falcon 9 rockets after many companies turned away from Russia as a business partner in the wake of the Ukraine war – including the British satellite internet company OneWeb and the US space equipment supplier Northrop Grumman.
However, the Europeans are currently unable to launch satellites for the Galileo navigation system, for example, because it has not yet been possible to launch publicly funded satellites with commercial American rockets. After all, the Soyuz rockets started with European cargo on board from the European spaceport in French Guiana in South America.
So far, Europe has relied on the Italian Vega rocket for small payloads, the Russian Soyuz for medium payloads and the European Ariane 5 for heavy payloads. The next-gen Vega C premiered last month, but the new Ariane 6 has been delayed until next year and Soyuz is canceled due to the Ukraine war.
A more detailed schedule for Ariane 6 will be available in October. Only then will ESA present a complete back-up plan that could include the SpaceX rockets. “But yes, the probability that replacement starts will be necessary is high,” said Aschbacher. “The order of magnitude is certainly a good handful.”
