Arianespace, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), had to abort its launch of the first Ariane 6 rocket on Monday, March 3. The ground systems issue prevented the instantaneous launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The second launch opportunity for the year and the second in program history has not been announced yet. Arianespace is targeting a launch at 1:24 p.m. Kourou time (11:24 a.m. EST, 1624 UTC).
The mission will be the first customer flight of the 56-meter-tall rocket, which will use a short payload fairing and two P120C solid rocket motors. The Ariane 6 rocket is carrying the third and final satellite for France’s Optical Space Component (CSO) program.
The CSO-3 satellite will operate in concert with the CSO-1 and CSO-2 satellites, launched in 2018 and 2020 respectively, to provide defense and reconnaissance information for the French Air and Space Force. The three satellites are positioned in Sun-synchronous orbits at different altitudes, carrying out two different missions: reconnaissance and identification.
The spacecraft has a designed lifespan of 10 years and will be launched into an altitude of approximately 800 km with an inclination of 98 degrees. It is expected to deploy from the Ariane 6 rocket about an hour after liftoff.
A consortium led by Airbus Defence and Space, along with Thales Alenia Space, built the CSO satellites, which are part of the Multinational Space-based Imaging System (MUSIS) project.
Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/03/03/live-coverage-arianespace-to-launch-an-ariane-6-rocket-on-its-1st-commercial-mission