Now that the European Space Agency (ESA) has accepted that the Ariane 6 will not launch before late 2023, with knock-on effects on its later flights, and bearing in mind the unavailability of Soyuz rockets due to the War in Ukraine, the agency has decided to move two of its key science missions to Space X Falcon 9 flights. Joseph Aschbacher, ESA Director General, announced that the Euclid astrophysics mission, which had been due to launch on a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana, will now fly to its Earth-Sun L2 Lagrangian position on a Falcon 9 launch in 2023.
Aschbacher also announced that the Hera asteroid mission, which is going to the Didymous/Dimorphos system (recently made famous by the DART mission), will now fly on a Falcon 9 in 2024 instead of an Ariane 6 as planned for late that year. In addition, there has been an European-sourced launch replacement with the EarthCARE Earth science mission which had been due to fly on a Soyuz but will now fly on a Vega C.
