As McAllister recalled, after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, launches using Russian Soyuz launch vehicles became impossible (after the European Space Agency refused to cooperate with Roscosmos).
In addition, the European Ariane-5 launch vehicle was discontinued, and the first launch of the new Ariane-6, which should replace it, was postponed to the end of 2023, the parliamentarian recalled.
“European space flights are becoming increasingly dependent on the launch vehicles of the American company SpaceX, which creates a systemic risk,” the letter says.
McAllister is convinced that the European Union needs additional launch sites, and launch vehicles with small satellites should take off from European territory.
In this regard, he asked how the EC treats the possibility of creating a floating spaceport.
“What is the committee’s view on proposals from the private sector and the Federal Association of German Industry for the establishment of a spaceport – the first floating launch platform for small launch vehicles – in the German exclusive economic zone in the North Sea?”
asked the MEP.
Earlier, the Director General of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, said that Europe's independent access to space could be in jeopardy due to the crisis in the launcher sector.
In February last year, the European Union decided to ban the supply of goods to Russia for use in the space or aviation industry as part of anti-Russian sanctions.
In response to this, Roskosmos suspended cooperation with the EU, in particular, in organizing Soyuz launches with Galileo and Copernicus satellites from the Kourou cosmodrome.
And in November 2022, the head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, stated that the European Space Agency had completely refused to cooperate with Moscow.