The European agency Eumetsat has canceled the launch of its MTG-S1 satellite by the Ariane 6 rocket.
This is a new setback for the European launcher, whose inaugural flight is scheduled for July 9.
This is a new blow for Arianespace and its Ariane 6 rocket. Eumetsat, the operator of European weather satellites, canceled the launch of its MTG-S1 satellite by the Ariane 6 rocket in favor of SpaceX, a disappointment for the launcher European aircraft whose inaugural flight is due to take place on July 9 from the Kourou spaceport, in French Guiana. As revealed this Thursday The worldEumetsat’s executive committee has asked the board of directors representing the 30 member states to choose SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, cancelling the contract signed four years ago with Arianespace.
The weather satellite was to be part of the third Ariane 6 flight scheduled for early 2025. The reasons that led Eumetsat to change tack and choose the American rocket are not known. Contacted by AFP, Eumetsat was not immediately reachable, while Arianespace, the company responsible for operating and marketing Ariane 6, did not comment. 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 space Europe“.
“I look forward to understanding the reasons which may have led Eumetsat to such a decision, while all the major European space countries as well as the European Commission are calling for the launch of European satellites on European launchers.s,” he says.How far will we, Europeans, go in our naivety?“, again blames Philippe Baptiste, who calls on the European Commission to take “the necessary measures so that all European institutional satellites are launched on small and large European launchers“.
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Initially scheduled for 2020, the first flight of Ariane 6 has been postponed several times due to the Covid-19 pandemic and development difficulties. Before this setback, Ariane 6, whose planned rate is 9 launches per year, had 30 flights in its order book. The launcher is intended to give Europe independent access to space again since the final flight of the Ariane 5 rocket in July 2023 and the failure of the first commercial flight of the new Italian Vega-C rocket in 2022. But competition is tough against the behemoth SpaceX, which has planned 140 Falcon 9 launches for 2023.
