With the failure of cooperation with Russia, the European Space Agency (ESA) is reviewing its plans and advocating its sovereignty. “Europe cannot rely on other powers,” claims ESA.
The Council of the European Space Agency (ESA) met on Wednesday to analyze the impact of the war in Ukraine on space programs. All cooperation with Russia was halted by Moscow’s decision to withdraw the Soyuz team from Kourou. The numerous consequences will be explained this Thursday at BFM Business Géraldine Naja, Director of Marketing, Industrialization and Delivery of ESA
“We should launch three lunar missions in cooperation with Russia. We won’t do that, but it’s not that bad. We have already found ways to fly these experiments on other missions with the Americans, but we are also exploring options with the Japanese and Indian space agencies,” revealed Géraldine Naja.
Another reorganization mission: ExoMars. The ExoMars mission involved launching an ESA rover to the planet Mars using a Russian launch vehicle and lander. The launch of ExoMars, originally planned for 2020, was postponed to September 2022 due to the Covid 19 pandemic. ExoMars has to be postponed again.
“Missions to Mars only have a launch window every two years. We are in the process of identifying another launch vehicle capable of taking ExoMars to Mars. The earliest will be 2026. We will not be able to adapt the mission on a new launcher for 2024,” explains Géraldine Naja.
“To bring forth the unicorns of tomorrow”
However, these risks have consequences that Esa describes as positive, in particular to streamline the work between the historical actors of space and the startups.
“We have become aware of that. Investment in space is growing enormously, but more so in the United States than in Europe. We have to make up for this delay. We started launching a marketing program called ScaleUp.”
This program aims to support the growth of “small promising startups” through services ranging from incubation to acceleration and access to private funds. The selected young shoots will also have access to ESA’s expertise and testing resources and potentially put them into orbit.
“These services are aimed at creating the unicorns of tomorrow,” affirms Géraldine Naja, specifying that they do not want to replace today’s large companies. “He needs both, we can’t oppose newspace and traditional space”.
European spatial sovereignty
The situation in Ukraine and the breakdown in relations with the Russian space agency have also fueled European ambitions for sovereignty, particularly when it comes to sending people into space and exploring the Moon or Mars.
“Our astronauts have been flying for a long time, but they don’t go into space with European funds. With the war in Ukraine, sovereignty takes on a different dimension,” says Géraldine Naja. We seek security in space, certain critical technologies, Europe cannot rely on other powers.”
During its council, ESA launched a space program on civil security and another on secure communications. On the initiative of EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, Europe plans to send more than 200 satellites into different orbits to provide different services.
