How the war in Ukraine has affected Russia’s presence in space

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the disruption of Euro-Russian relations, the European Space Agency (ESA) sought an alternative solution for space missions.

ESA has definitively selected Elon Musk’s US company SpaceX to replace the Russian space agency Roscosmos in two major mission launches in the 2023-24 biennium. The two missions involve the new European space telescope Euclid, which will study dark matter in the universe, as well as the Hera spacecraft, which will be a follow-up to NASA’s DART mission to the asteroids Gemini and Dimorpho.

The two launches will take place in 2023 and 2024, respectively, with Space X’s Falcon 9 rockets, as announced by ESA’s German director general, Josef Asbacher. The two missions were initially planned to be carried out by Soyuz rockets from the Russia.

ESA has also decided to launch in early 2024 the new European Earth observation satellite Earthcare – a member of the Copernicus program family – on a European Vega C rocket from the aerospace company Arianespace.

The Organization also announced that the new European Ariane 6 rocket will make its maiden voyage in the fourth quarter of 2023, with a delay of about three years compared to the original planning for its first launch in 2020, reports APE-MPE. THE missile it was intended to compete with SpaceX. Until now Europe has used the Vega rocket for small payloads into space, the Russian Soyuz for medium payloads and the soon to be “retired” French Ariane 5 for the heaviest payloads. ESA has announced that it plans to launch its three remaining Ariane 5 rockets in the first half of 2023.