Falcon 9 leading candidate to launch European science mission

spacenews.com ^ | October 18, 2022 | Jeff Foust —

[BenLurkin]

A European astrophysics spacecraft stranded when Russia cut off access to Soyuz launch vehicles may instead fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9, NASA officials said Oct. 17.

At a meeting of NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Council, Mark Clampin, director of the agency’s astrophysics division, said his understanding is that the European Space Agency was leaning towards launching its Euclid mission on a Falcon 9 in mid to late 2023.

NASA is a partner on Euclid, a space telescope that will operate around the Earth-sun L-2 Lagrange point 1.5 million kilometers from Earth to study dark energy, dark matter and other aspects of cosmology. The 2,160-kilogram spacecraft was to launch on a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana in 2023.

Launching it on Ariane, he said, was not an option because of the lack of remaining Ariane 5 rockets. The new Ariane 6 has yet to make its first launch, and there are several missions competing for its initial launches. “At this time, the best option for them is really Falcon 9,” he said.

Euclid may be the only ESA or European Union mission to shift to a non-European launch vehicle. EarthCARE, an Earth science mission also originally manifested on a Soyuz, will likely go on Vega C, Aschbacher said in August. Sentinel-1C, a radar mapping mission, will also launch on Vega C, while two pairs of Galileo satellites previously set to launch on Soyuz are expected to go on Ariane 6 instead.

He emphasized them any use of non-European launch options like SpaceX would be a temporary measure.

[EEGator]

Musk is more competent than the US and Europe combined.
Pathetic…