The European Space Agency (ESA) has begun preliminary technical discussions with Elon Musk's SpaceX that could lead to the temporary use of its launchers after the Ukraine conflict blocked Western access to Russia's Soyuz rockets.
The private American competitor to Europe's Arianespace has emerged as a key contender to plug a temporary gap alongside Japan and India, but final decisions depend on the still unresolved timetable for Europe's delayed Ariane 6 rocket.
"We are looking into this technical compatibility but we have not asked for a commercial offer yet. We just want to make sure that it would be an option in order to make a decision on asking for a firm commercial offer," Aschbacher said.The political fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine has already been a boon for SpaceX's Falcon 9, which has swept up other customers severing ties with Moscow's increasingly isolated space sector.
Aschbacher said a more precise Ariane 6 schedule would be clearer in October. Only then would ESA finalise a back-up plan to be presented to ministers of the agency's 22 nations in November. "This was a wake up call, that we have been too dependent on Russia. And this wake-up call, we have to hope that decision makers realise it as much as I do, that we have to really strengthen our European capability and independence."
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