The European Union is in the final stages of finalizing an agreement with SpaceX to launch four Galileo navigation satellites in 2024. At a press conference at the European Space Summit in Seville, Spain, on November 7, Thierry Breton, the European Commission’s internal market commissioner, said he was “completing discussions” regarding the launch of two Falcon 9s, each carrying two Galileos. The satellites are tentatively planned for April and July 2024.

He said the final hurdle to finalizing the launch contract was agreeing on a security agreement to protect sensitive technology on the Galileo satellites, which were previously launched from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana, as the satellites prepared to launch from the United States. situation

Breton noted that the launch contract was completed in July and the European Commission approved the European Space Agency’s proposal to use Falcon 9 to launch these satellites. The European Commission will spend 180 million euros ($192 million) for the launch of Falcon 9, he said.

At the ESA Council meeting on 19 October, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said that the final decision on using SpaceX to launch the Galileo satellites was in the hands of the Commission. “On the ESA side, we have prepared contractual agreements with an external launch company, but it is not in our hands whether the launch will be agreed with SpaceX,” he said. “This is a decision of the European Commission.”

There have been discussions for over a year about using a non-European rocket such as the Falcon 9 to launch these satellites due to delays to Ariane 6, the decommissioning of Ariane 5, and the withdrawal of the Union following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These satellites will complement the existing Galileo operational group and serve as in-orbit backups in case other satellites fail.

“We have no serious anomalies in orbit. We have no indication that the launch is absolutely urgent,” ESA’s director of navigation, Francisco-Javier Benedicto Ruiz, told a meeting of the ESA Executive Board last month. With all that said, “we want to continue to expand.”

ESA has contracted SpaceX for three launches of the Falcon 9 from the Euclid astronomy spacecraft, which took place in July, and the 2024 launch of the EarthCARE Earth science satellite with the Hera asteroid mission. ESA has said it is abandoning Falcon 9 following concerns about Union, the loss of Ariane 6 and Vega C, which is out of service following the failed launch in December 2022.

Relying on SpaceX to launch European spacecraft due to problems with Ariane 6 and Vega C has been a source of confusion and frustration for European officials. “As a corporate customer, I’m not happy with what happened. We had a schedule that was promised but not kept,” Breton said in a briefing, referring to the Ariane 6 delays.

Breton said he welcomed the agreements previously announced at the ESA section of the European Space Summit to support the European launch industry. This included guaranteed financial support for a future batch of Ariane 6 and Vega C rockets, up to €340 million per year for Ariane 6 and €21 million per year for Vega C. This deal also includes commitments for at least four Ariane 6s and three Vega C launches annually for European government customers.

He said “Europe should be preferred” if European institutions, including national governments, were to purchase launches, and he subtly criticized governments such as SpaceX that have gone beyond the continent to launch satellites. “This is a mandatory condition for autonomous access to space. This way we will ensure the commercial sustainability of our launchers.”

Avio, the main contractor of the Vega rocket, announced other terms of the launch agreement in a statement on November 7. Avio will be responsible for the launch and sale of Arianespace’s Vega, with the process expected to be completed by mid-2024. Avio said it expects to reach an agreement with Arianespace on how to conduct the 17 Vega launches currently under contract.

The agreement also provides for the allocation of existing infrastructure in Kourou, French Guiana, for Vega rockets. This will include using the old Ariane 5 pad for launches of the Vega E, an upgraded version of the Vega C with a new liquid-fueled upper stage in development.