One of the challenges of watching a launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California is actually seeing the launch. A marine layer of low clouds often rolls in from the Pacific, causing rockets to disappear seconds after launch. That was the case on May 28, when Falcon 9 launched EarthCARE, an Earth science spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency.
“We saw the take off and of course you hear the noises. Then you continue watching on the screen,” said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. “But it doesn’t matter if you see it or not. The important thing is that the satellite was delivered safely.”
Aschbacher was at the EarthCARE launch in California rather than French Guiana because of what he often called the “launch crisis” that forced ESA and the European Commission to turn to SpaceX to launch science missions like the EarthCARE and Galileo navigation satellites. Development delays, launch failures and geopolitics combined to deprive Europe of its own means of accessing space.
However, the sky is starting to clear for Europe. Ariane 6’s inaugural flight is now scheduled for the first two weeks of July. On the same day as EarthCARE’s launch, Avio, the main supplier of the Vega C rocket, successfully test-fired a redesigned solid-propellant rocket engine, a step toward returning the vehicle to flight by the end of the year.
Aschbacher attended the launch days after a series of events in Brussels that included a Space Council meeting involving ESA and European Union member states. ESA also announced the first signatories to its Zero Debris Charter to promote space sustainability and selected two companies, Thales Alenia Space and The Exploration Company, for contracts to study a commercial cargo vehicle that could be a precursor to Europe’s manned spacecraft.
Aschbacher spoke with SpaceNews hours after EarthCARE’s launch, discussing both the launch and other key developments at ESA. The following is an abridged version of that interview.
EarthCARE is the second mission ESA has launched on Falcon 9, following Euclid last year. How was the relationship with SpaceX?
Aschbacher: It worked very well. We had a good experience with Euclid last year and now with EarthCARE. It’s really professional. Our teams and the SpaceX teams are working very well on all the different issues.
But you have to breathe a sigh of relief that Ariane 6 is about to make its first launch.
Yes, it feels good because I hear a lot of questions: why are you launching with Falcon and not Ariane? At the Berlin Air Show [June 5–9] I will announce the target date for the first attempt at the inaugural flight, which will be during the first two weeks of July. This is really close and I can say that we are well on our way.
What are the major milestones leading up to this launch?
We went through a very thorough qualification check which ended. As in any review, a number of actions have been identified that need to be closed and this is ongoing. There is nothing that is overwhelming. Then there are the logistics in Kourou at the launch base and everything leading up to the launch campaign. All of this is fairly nominal. It’s still a lot of work, but nothing that I’m concerned about at this point that would make it impossible to launch within that two-week window.
How important was the Vega C static fire test that just took place?
That was very important. We see that we are well on our way to returning to flight by the end of the year. This test today was the most important milestone: we have another firing test in October, but today’s test confirms that the redesign of the nozzle with new carbon-carbon inserts is good. The thrust curve that was measured is nominal and follows the expected theoretical line, which means that the engine is working well.
ESA announced on May 22 that it had selected Thales Alenia Space and The Exploration Company for study contracts for its commercial cargo program. ESA
officials previously said they would award up to three contracts. Why choose only two?
The evaluation of industrial designs was very thorough, which we do with all acquisitions of space hardware. This brought the two companies over the threshold required to enter into a contract, so the two companies signed last week. We had two others that were below that threshold and we had some iterations with them. But even clarifying some of the questions we were asking didn’t lead to a strong enough proposition for us to feel confident about signing a third contract. It is important that we have competition, but it also shows that we are very solid and rigorous in our selection of companies.
ESA also announced on the same day that the first group of 12 countries had signed the Zero Debris Charter. What are the next steps in this effort?
The next round will be at the Berlin Air Show, which will be open to companies and organizations. Altogether we have about 100 expressions of interest. I don’t want to give anything away before this event, but I can tell you that we have some very interesting companies lined up for this signing. We would really like to use this Zero Debris Charter to show that we are advocates for sustainability not only on planet Earth, where we do a lot of work on climate issues, but also in orbit.
Do you have any concerns that the Zero Debris Charter could conflict with the proposed EU Space Law, which will reportedly have its own provisions on space sustainability?
You really have to ask the European Commission about space law. This is not something we participate in. I don’t know the text of the law, so I can’t comment on what will be included. Of course, we are very interested in reading the text and analyzing it. Member States have already asked us at ESA, once the text is published, to analyze it and find out what it means for companies in their countries. The way we develop programs will certainly be influenced by cosmic law. Issues like standardization [of national space laws] will be critical.
When you became Director General of ESA, you made improving relations with the European Commission one of your priorities. How much progress have you made and how has it affected efforts like the IRIS² constellation?
In my Agenda 2025, I consider cooperation between ESA and the European Union to be a top priority. I worked for several years in the European Commission as an employee, so I know it very well, and I have been working with the Commission on building the Copernicus program for decades. For me, there is no other option than to have extremely good cooperation between the Commission and ESA. That’s exactly what we do.
We have flagship programs like Copernicus and Galileo, which are really only possible because ESA and the European Union work together. They wouldn’t exist without one or the other, certainly not in its current quality, so there’s no choice. There is a huge need to work well together, so I am very committed to doing that.
IRIS² is next in line, but there are still some questions. This first contract is signed by the Commission. We at ESA provide technical support, advice to the Commission in the evaluation of proposals and subsequent implementation. On the ESA side, we have about 600 million euros in the budget from our member states for its implementation with a focus on technology development. The European Commission has also committed in the agreement to provide ESA with more than €300 million from their budget to ensure that this cooperation and implementation works well.
Overall, ESA today fulfills about 80% of the EU space budget for the Copernicus and Galileo programs and I hope that as we continue we are the implementing agency for the EU space programmes. I will do everything in my power to continue this for another decade.
This article first appeared in the June 2024 issue of SpaceNews Magazine.