It looks like EUMETSAT has decided to launch Meteosat MTG-S1 on a spacex falcon 9 instead of Ariane 6. This is quite a brutal change as the flight was supposed to take place very soon. Clearly, today is a very disappointing day for European space efforts. The technical conditions were met for a launch on Ariane 6 and the launcher was indeed available. I am impatiently waiting to understand what reasons could have led Eumetsat to such a decision, at a time where all major European space countries as well as the European Commission are calling for launching european satellites on European launchers ! Not mentioning the fact that we are 10 days away from the maiden flight of Ariane 6. How far will we, Europeans, go in our naivety? This illustrates, once again, the ardent need for strong European coordination on space. It is time for the European Commission to take the necessary measures so that all European institutional satellites are launched on small and large European launchers. https://lnkd.in/eFJd76_Q Phil Evans Thierry Breton Paul Bate Walther Pelzer Teodoro Valente Juan Carlos Cortés Pulido Josef Aschbacher
Bastien MARRAGOU
3mo
Expansive costs against SpaceX. Non-reusable against SpaceX. Never flown yet. There is no need to be angry, that’s how business works. Ariane 6 comes too late, with too old technology to be competitive. In their early days, few companies trusted SpaceX. Ariane 6 must prove its viability before being the best solution for the Europe satellites launches.
Andrew Anderson
3mo
It is understandable to be frustrated when a business relationship does not go as planned, but Imagine the positive reception that this message would have received instead: "While I am disappointed that Eumetsat made the choice to use a different launch service provider for MTG-S1, we are committed to making Arianespace their first choice for future launches." It is not good to chastise a customer for making the choice that they needed to make today; instead, double down in your commitment to be the best choice for the customer tomorrow.
Iulian Peca
3mo
Well, Ariane 6 is a bit better than 5, but in principle is still kind of old technology. That means, is still quite expensive to use it. No wonder why they chose Space X. I also think, that in general, for Ariane 6 things went forward too slow and is not much innovation in between, but probably a lot of bureaucracy and paper work.
📡🚀🌒Sam Peterson
3mo
It's time to pull the plug on Ariane. For the European launcher market to mature, the old has to be swept away to make room for the new. Calling on the EU to pass a law that requires Ariane to be used in favor of better commercial solutions is the problem. Will it take time for the commercial launcher market in Europe to mature? Sure. It will be a bit like the end of the Space Shuttle Era, only U.S. commercial alternatives already exist and there is no need to rely on Russian launchers. A better future will come out of it if the choice is made to move away from the old ways. Congratulations to the leadership at EUMETSAT for making the right decision. Let's hope that the European Union leadership follows suit and does not cave to the pressure of the old guard.
Franco Zurletti
3mo
All this noise for one launch? Ariane-6 backlog looks pretty solid to me. We (Europeans) have not been launching anything for almost 2 years....maybe some missions just need to get to orbit at a certain point? Please let's keep the focus where it should be: on getting back our access to space.
One of the things Europe needs on top of a sovereign access to space is good leadership. Good leadership implies : - all working in the same direction by owning our own mistakes and shortcomings in order to win back the confidence of the public, - avoid blaming publicly clients and partners when they make expected pragmatic and difficult decisions in the best interest of the public.
Une décision incompréhensible, à l'heure où l'Europe spatiale devrait se serrer les coudes pour assurer son avenir !
Getting s*** done
3moAbsurd statement. The reasons for this decision are crystal clear. Maybe it’s time to take responsibility for our own shortcomings and bad decisions and stop resenting others for their success.