Big setback for Ariane 6, less than two weeks before its maiden flight. Eumetsat, the operator of European weather satellites, has cancelled the launch of its MTG-S1 satellite by the European launcher in favour of the American SpaceX, reported The world.
Contacted by AFP on Friday, Eumetsat could not immediately be reached, while Arianespace, the company responsible for operating and marketing Ariane 6, did not comment. According to The worldthe Eumetsat executive committee has asked the board of directors representing the 30 member states to choose SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, cancelling the contract signed with Arianespace four years ago.
The MTG-S1 satellite was due to embark on the third Ariane 6 flight in early 2025. The reasons which pushed Eumetsat to change tack and choose the American rocket are not specified.
« Very disappointing day for space Europe »
Reacting on LinkedIn, the CEO of Cnes, the French space agency, Philippe Baptiste, deplored “ a sudden change, as the flight was due to take place very soon » et « A very disappointing day for European space ».
« I look forward to understanding the reasons that could have led Eumetsat to such a decision, at a time when all the major European space countries and the European Commission are calling for European satellites to be launched on European launchers. “, he said.
« How far will we, Europeans, go in our naivety? “, Philippe Baptiste continues, calling on the European Commission to take ” the necessary measures so that all European institutional satellites are launched on small and large European launchers ».
Before this setback, Ariane 6, whose planned rate is 9 launches per year, had 30 flights in its order book. It should give Europe independent access to space in the face of the behemoth SpaceX, which is planning 144 Falcon 9 launches this year.
After Ariane 6: “decisions will be made in 2025” (Josef Aschbacher, ESA)
Ariane 6 maiden flight on July 9
As a reminder, Ariane 6 is due to make its maiden flight from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou on 9 July, four years late. Europe is coming back into the game. We are emerging from the pitcher crisis “, declared ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher at the beginning of June from the Berlin Air Show.
« The program was delayed, we all suffered, but it is Europe’s return to access to space and we are confident about the date. » of July 9, added the president of the National Center for Space Studies (CNES), Philippe Baptiste.
Initially planned for 2020, the first flight of Ariane 6 has been postponed numerous times due to the Covid-19 pandemic and development difficulties. Europe has been deprived of its own access to space since the final flight of the Ariane 5 heavy launcher in July 2023 and the failure of the first commercial flight of the new Italian Vega-C rocket in 2022.
Compete with the American Space X launcher
Designed to compete with the American launcher Space X, the new European heavy launcher is versatile, with a re-ignitable upper stage allowing it to place several satellites in different orbits during the same flight.
Ariane 6 is from ” the same class as Falcon 9 rockets ” launched by Elon Musk’s company, Josef Aschbacher had argued at the beginning of June. But unlike Space X rockets, the new European launcher is not reusable and ” we need to work on it in the future “, he added.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was delighted that Europe could attend “ at a great moment in aerospace “, After ” ten years of hard preparatory work “Ariane 6 already has 30 missions in its order book,” said Stéphane Israël, executive chairman of Arianespace, which operates the launches.
340 million euros
To finance its economic balance, the 22 ESA Member States concluded an agreement in November 2023 on an annual subsidy of up to €340 million from the 16th to the 42nd flight of the rocket, i.e. the launches planned from 2026 to 2030. The financial balance of the first 15 flights was already ensured by a previous agreement. The Ariane 6 launch campaign began in April at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana, where the central body of the first Ariane 6 was installed on the ELA4 launch pad.
(With AFP)
