SpaceX Could Launch a New Space Telescope After Russian Launch Canceled

The European Space Agency halted its cooperation with Russia and canceled its flights on Soyuz rockets in order to launch its telescope on a Falcon 9 rocket.

The space telescope was supposed to be launched this year. The European Space Agency has severed its ties with the Russian space agency because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The cooperation with Europe on Soyuz rocket launches from French Guiana was stopped. The ride to space was lost because of it.

The private space industry in the US was one of the places Europe began looking at. Mark Clampin, NASA's director of the astrophysics division, said on Monday during a meeting of NASA's Astrophysics Advisory Council that the European Space Agency may launch its Euclid mission on a Falcon 9 rocket in the late 19th or early 20th century.

The director general of the European Space Agency said in an interview that the agency is in talks with Musk's company to use its rockets. One of the back-up launches we are looking at is the one supplied by SpaceX.

The Ariane 6 rocket, the first flight of which won't happen until next year, is Arianespace's other option. The space agency is under a lot of pressure. The wake up call was that we have been too dependent on Russia.

There are other space agencies that have to look for replacements for Russian rockets. Russia halted its rocket engine supply to the US because of international sanctions. In order to eliminate the need for Russian engines, a partnership was announced between the two companies. When the new rocket is ready, the company will use the Falcon 9 rockets to deliver its Cygnus spaceship to the International Space Station. Britain's OneWeb was forced to sign a contract with another company, as well as India's space agency, for six launches required to send its first generation internet satellites to space.

The company is getting new clients from Europe and is coming up as the most viable option to replace these flights. A joint mission by NASA, the French space agency CNES, the Canadian Space Agency, and the U.K. Space Agency is scheduled to launch in December of 2022.

Even though Falcon 9 has 18 launches left this year, it needs to gear up for more.

The rival lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to canceled Russian launches.