Eumetsat moves weather satellite from Ariane 6 to Falcon 9

WASHINGTON — European weather satellite operator Eumetsat has moved an upcoming weather satellite launch from an Ariane 6 to a Falcon 9, a move that surprised and frustrated European space officials.

In a statement released on June 28, Eumetsat said the geostationary meteorological satellite Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) will now be launched on a Falcon 9 in 2025. The satellite was originally scheduled to be launched in early 2025 on an Ariane 6.

“This decision was motivated by exceptional circumstances,” said Phil Evans, CEO of Eumetsat, in a statement, without giving details of these circumstances. “This does not compromise our usual policy of supporting European partners, and we look forward to SpaceX’s successful launch of this masterpiece of European technology.”

The spacecraft is the second in the third-generation Meteosat family of meteorological satellites in geostationary orbit, following the launch of MTG-I1 on one of the latest Ariane 5 rockets in December 2022. MTG-S1 is the first to carry an instrument sounder capable of providing vertical profiles of temperature and water vapor to improve weather forecasts.

Eumetsat highlighted in its statement that MTG-S1 would “bring a revolution in weather forecasting and climate monitoring” and suggested moving the launch to Falcon 9 to ensure its on-time launch.

“Its launch will enable national weather services to benefit from new and more accurate data to protect lives, property and infrastructure,” he said. “As such, EUMETSAT Member States have decided to award a launch service 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 launch change submitted before the statement was released. The launch change was first reported on June 27 by the French newspaper The world.

The move appears to have caught the leaders of European space organizations by surprise, who have publicly expressed shock and disappointment at Eumetsat’s decision not to use Ariane 6 less than two weeks before the rocket’s scheduled launch.

“Clearly, today is a very disappointing day for European space efforts,” Philippe Baptiste, director of the French space agency CNES, said in a social media post. He called the decision “a pretty abrupt change” given the timing.

“I look forward to understanding what reasons 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 the launch of European satellites on European launchers!” he wrote.

He called on the European Commission to put in place a form of “buy European” regulation that would require European governments’ missions to be launched using European rockets. “This illustrates, once again, the urgent need for strong European coordination in the space domain. »

Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, also described Eumetsat’s decision as “surprising.” a June 29 post on social media. “It’s hard to understand, especially since Ariane 6 is on track for its maiden flight on July 9, and everything is theoretically going well.”

He stressed that Eumetsat’s decision would not impact the launch rate of Ariane 6, provided that the first launch planned for July is a success. A second launch, which would be a commercial launch managed by Arianespace, is planned before the end of the year.

Arianespace has an order book of 30 Ariane 6 launches, said Caroline Arnoux, head of Ariane 6 programs at Arianespace, during an ESA briefing on June 25. This backlog includes 18 Project Kuiper satellite launches for Amazon, as well as other commercial and government customers.

She said Arianespace is considering six Ariane 6 launches in 2025, then eight in 2026 and ten in 2027. The vehicle’s maximum flight cadence is expected to be 9 to 12 launches per year.

Lucía Linares, head of space transportation strategy and institutional launches at ESA, highlighted during this briefing the importance of government customers for Ariane 6. “Above all, we developed Ariane 6 — designed, developed and now about to make its inaugural launch — in order to serve European institutional missions,” she said. “This is the main reason why the public sector is funding this launcher and why we have guaranteed access to space.”

Eumetsat is not, however, the first European institutional customer to select the Falcon 9 for its launches, particularly during the “launcher crisis” that limited European access to space. ESA launched its Euclid space telescope a year ago on a Falcon 9, 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 the Galileo navigation satellites, with one Falcon 9 launching two satellites in April and another pair due to launch later this year.

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