WASHINGTON – European weather satellite operator Eumetsat has shifted the upcoming launch of a weather satellite from an Ariane 6 to a Falcon 9, a move that surprised and frustrated European space officials.
In a statement late June 28, Eumetsat said the geostationary weather satellite Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) will now be launched on a Falcon 9 in 2025. The spacecraft was planned to be launched on an Ariane 6 in early 2025.
“This decision was driven by exceptional circumstances,” Eumetsat director general Phil Evans said in a statement, but he did not elaborate on those circumstances. “It does not affect our standard policy of supporting European partners, and we look forward to a successful SpaceX launch for this masterpiece of European technology.”
The spacecraft is the second in the Meteosat Third Generation line of geostationary weather satellites, following the launch of MTG-I1 on one of the last Ariane 5 rockets in December 2022. MTG-S1 is the first spacecraft with a sounding instrument that can measure vertical profiles of can provide temperature and water vapor to improve weather forecasting.
Eumetsat noted in its statement that MTG-S1 “will revolutionize weather forecasting and climate monitoring” and suggested moving the launch to Falcon 9 to ensure it would launch on time.
“Its launch will ensure that national weather services can benefit from new and more accurate data to protect lives, property and infrastructure,” the report said. “As such, the EUMETSAT Member States have decided to award a launch services contract to SpaceX for the launch of the Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2025.”
The agency did not respond to questions about the change in launch submitted before it released the statement. The change in launch was first reported on June 27 by the French newspaper The world.
The change appears to have caught the leadership of Europe’s space agencies by surprise, as they publicly expressed shock and disappointment over Eumetsat’s decision not to deploy the Ariane 6 less than two weeks before that rocket’s planned debut.
“It is clear that today is a very disappointing day for European space efforts,” Philippe Baptiste, head of the French space agency CNES, said in a social media post, calling the decision “a pretty brutal change” given the timing.
“I wait impatiently to understand what reasons could have led Eumetsat to such a decision, at a time when all major European space-faring countries and the European Commission are calling for the launch of European satellites on European launch vehicles!” He wrote.
He called on the European Commission to implement a form of “buy European” regulation that would require European government missions to be launched on European rockets. “This illustrates, once again, the urgent need for strong European coordination in space.”
Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, also called Eumetsat’s decision “surprising” a social media post from June 29“It is difficult to understand, especially since Ariane 6 is well on its way to its maiden flight on July 9, and everything is going according to schedule.”
He noted that Eumetsat’s decision would not affect the start-up of Ariane 6 launches, assuming the inaugural launch in July is a success. A second launch, which would be a commercial launch operated by Arianespace, is planned for the end of the year.
Arianespace has an order book for 30 Ariane 6 launches, Caroline Arnoux, head of Ariane 6 programs at Arianespace, said at an ESA briefing on June 25. That includes 18 launches of Project Kuiper satellites for Amazon, along with other commercial and government customers.
She said Arianespace expects six Ariane 6 launches in 2025, increasing to eight in 2026 and 10 in 2027. The vehicle’s maximum flight frequency is expected to be 9 to 12 launches per year.
Lucía Linares, head of space transportation strategy and institutional launches at ESA, emphasized during that briefing the importance of government customers for Ariane 6. “First of all, we developed Ariane 6 — designed, developed and now ready for the first launch — to serve European institutional missions ,” she said. “This is the main reason why the public sector is funding this launch facility and why we have guaranteed access to space.”
Eumetsat is however not the first European institutional customer to choose Falcon 9 for launches, especially during the “launcher crisis” that limits European access to space. ESA launched its Euclid space telescope on a Falcon 9 a year ago, followed in May by the launch of EarthCARE, a joint Earth science mission with the Japanese space agency JAXA. Another Falcon 9 will launch ESA’s Hera asteroid mission in October.
The European Commission has also selected Falcon 9 to launch Galileo navigation satellites, with one Falcon 9 launching a pair of satellites in April and another pair due to be launched later this year.
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