Russia pulls out of European spaceport, abandoning a planned launch

Russia has decided to stop cooperation with European launch officials, and will withdraw its personnel from Europe's main spaceport.

The chief of Russia's main space corporation announced on Saturday that his country was responding to sanctions placed on it by the European Union. Europe, the United States, and other nations around the world have imposed sanctions on Russia.

Russian technicians and engineers work in French Guiana. TheGuiana Space Center is where Europe launches its fleet of orbital rockets, including a Europeanized version of the Russian Soyuz vehicle for medium-lift missions. The European Union will launch two Galileo satellites on April 6.

Europe has spent $10 billion on the Galileo navigation system. The continent used the Soyuz vehicle to launch some of its Earth observation satellites.

The European Commissioner for Space issued a statement on Saturday that said there would be no consequences for the Galileo or Copernicus constellations in terms of continuity or quality of service. He said that Russia's suspension of cooperation wouldn't have an impact on their development.

The second generation of the EU's space infrastructures will continue to be developed, and we are ready to act to protect them.

The European Union is in a bind because of the Russian decision. Europe's small rockets are not powerful enough to lift the Galileo and Copernicus satellites. The Ariane 5 heavy lift vehicle is being retired in favor of the more efficient and cost-effective Ariane 6 rocket. All of the Ariane 5 launches are done, and the Ariane 6 rocket probably won't be operational until at least 2023.

It's not clear what Europe will do if it needs to quickly launch a Galileo or Copernicus satellite. It seems unlikely that Europe would want to support a competitor to its institutional launch industry, as the only Western company with the spare capacity for such a mission is probably the United States-based SpaceX.