SpaceX has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch up to four of Europe’s Galileo navigation satellites in 2024, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The deal, recently inked by Elon Musk’s company, calls for the Galileo satellites to be launched on Falcon 9 rockets from U.S. soil. The European Commission and EU member states still need to give final approval for the agreement, which is expected to happen before the end of the year.
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Galileo is Europe’s equivalent of GPS, providing an orbiting network that allows users to determine their location and navigate. The Galileo satellites orbit Earth at an altitude of 14,429 miles (23,222 kilometers) and have been launched on Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket or the Russian-built Soyuz.
However, due to Europe ending most of its space cooperation with Russia, SpaceX became the only remaining option for launching the Galileo satellites, according to European officials.
These upcoming missions will be the first time SpaceX launches EU satellites carrying classified equipment and the first time in 15 years that Galileo spacecraft launch from a non-European territory. Talks have begun between the U.S. and the EU on an agreement to protect classified information in the satellites.
Galileo became operational in 2016 and currently has 23 operational satellites. The network is being expanded to include a total of 30 spacecraft in its final form.
