The EU didn't launch anything last night: EUSPA made a post on X similar to this one on LinkedIn, saying that "EU Launched two new Galileo satellites".
The two new Galileo satellites were launched by SpaceX from Florida, onboard a Falcon 9 Rocket.
Saying that "EU launched" those satellites is a misleading statement, and reflects the intention to not mention SpaceX (which is carefully avoided also in this post).
It's a shame, because it’s not SpaceX's fault if Europe is lacking a launcher for those satellites.
Several problems in management, competition, foresight, and ambition in the European space sector led the EU in this situation...
Acknowledging the launch company which saved the situation, in a very cheap way, is the minimum EU should do.
That's also because our money are spent for this.
Trying to mislead people writing that "EU Launched" the satellites, or just avoiding mentioning that the launch was performed by a non-EU company, is a proper scam to EU citizens.
I rarely comment publicly about those things, given my work at Space Voyaging, but this time I'm doing so as an European Citizen.
🛰🛰Earlier this morning, two new Galileo satellites were launched and reached the Holding Point. They are currently managed by #EUSPA as part of the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP).
Over the following days, the EUSPA LEOP team will be manoeuvring the satellites from the dedicated #Galileo Control Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany until they are placed into their home orbit at 23 220 km.
Galileo LEOP operations will constitute one of the most cooperative activities between numerous European entities in the space sector, including EUSPA, Spaceopal, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the German Space Operations Center, Telespazio and the European Space Agency - ESA.
Galileo: financed by the EU, developed by ESA, services delivered by EUSPA. This is #EUSpace.
European Commission | EU Space
Best of luck to you AVIO with the revised launch attempt for the #VV24 mission. Looking forward to seeing the success of this crucial step!