The MTG-S1 satellite was planned to be the third launch of an Ariane 6 rocket. (Representative)
Paris:
The European weather satellite operator canceled plans to use Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket less than two weeks before its first launch, opting instead for US company SpaceX, French newspaper Le Monde reported.
The latest blow to European space efforts comes after four years of delays to Ariane 6, which is scheduled to finally lift off for the first time on July 9.
Contacted by AFP on Friday, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) was not immediately contacted, while the French company Arianespace, which developed and operates the Ariane 6 rocket, did not comment.
According to the Le Monde report, the EUMETSAT executive committee asked the board of directors representing the organization’s 30 member states to launch the MTG-S1 weather satellite on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
This would mean canceling the contract that EUMETSAT signed with Arianespace four years ago.
The MTG-S1 satellite was planned to be the third launch of an Ariane 6 rocket, scheduled to lift off early next year.
Le Monde’s report did not specify exactly why EUMETSAT switched from the European rocket to US billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The CEO of the French space agency CNES, Philippe Baptiste, said it was “a rather brutal change, as the flight was supposed to take place very soon”.
“Clearly, today is a very disappointing day for European space efforts,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post.
“I wait impatiently to understand what reasons could have led EUMETSAT to such a decision, at a time when all the main European space countries, as well as the European Commission, are calling for the launch of European satellites on European launchers!
“How far will we, Europeans, go in our naivety?”
Baptiste called on the European Commission to “take the necessary measures so that all European institutional satellites are launched on small and large European launchers”.
The long-awaited maiden flight of Ariane 6 comes at a difficult time for European space efforts.
Years of delays to Ariane 6, setbacks to the lighter Vega-C launcher and Russia’s withdrawal of Soyuz rockets have left Europe without an independent way to launch its missions into space.
Before the latest setback, the Ariane 6 rockets had an order backlog of 30 missions and were planned to be launched nine times a year.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket – which is reusable, unlike the Ariane 6 – is planning 144 launches this year alone.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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