In the first minutes of launching, the first commercial mission of Europe’s new heavy rocket Ariane 6 was closed on the ground on Monday due to “discrepancy”.
This was the latest of many sites for rockets because Europe wants to secure independent access to space between Moscow and Washington.
The launch was scheduled to explode from Europe’s Spaceport, French Guana at Kurau at 1:24 pm on Monday (1624 GMT).
While there was some scattered rains in Kurau, the teams on the ground got a green light till a few minutes before the explosion.
But a “discrepancy” was detected on the ground, “Now the only possible decision is to postpone the launch,” said David Cavilols, head of French company Arianspace, said, who operates the rocket.
“I have no doubt that we will soon have another flight again,” he said.
The launch was postponed as Europe wanted to reduce its dependence on the United States for security – and the European space industry struggled to remain competitive with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Launcher aims to keep a French military satellite in the class at a height of about 800 kilometers (500 mi) above the Earth.
Europe has not used Russia’s Soyuz rockets since Moscow in 2022 attacked Ukraine, while Workcares Ariaan 5 was retired in 2023.
‘We must be united’
After the administration of the new US President Donald Trump, the mission took more symbolic importance, launched a stunning coordination with Russia, giving European countries a closed rank.
“Europe must ensure its safety,” the ESA Space Transport Director Tony Tolker-Nilason announced a press conference in Kurau before postponing.
“We should unite,” Cavilols said, “In today’s world” emphasizing the importance of “not dependent on anyone else” to launch satellites “.
The space industry is experiencing the major upheaval – and became a major advisor to Trump recently after Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX billionaire.
“The concept of strategic autonomy was once mocked as a French whim, in the center of Europe yesterday,” French Research Minister Philip Baptist told local media, “was once joking as a French whim.
“The number of launch has exploded – not only American, but also Chinese,” said French General Philip Steininger, a advisor at the Space Research Institute CNES, said.
Initially plans for December, the Arian 6 mission was delayed by 26 February and then by 3 March. The next launch date is not yet known.
The Mission CSO -3 satellite is to be taken to space. The CSO-3 will complete a network of three French military imaging satellites, with in 2018 and in 2020 on Soyuz rockets.
Heavy security
Mitchell Syag, head of the French government’s Armament Agency DGA, told AFP that satellites have “circumambulation cameras that take images in both visible and infrared light worldwide, which is very important for military campaigns.”
Given the military role of the satellite, strict security precautions were taken to limit access to the spaceport on the northern coast of South America, in which French fighter jets were deployed to patrol in the surrounding sky.
Europe’s younger Vega-Si Launcher was placed on the ground due to an accident for the first two years, resulting in a loss of two satellites, re-started in December 2024.
After the delay and end of cooperation with Russia, Hijap left Europe without the way of launching satellites in the classroom for a year.
There are only a handful of military satellites in Europe compared to hundreds of the United States and China.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)
