Anomaly settled in Kourou: the Soyuz launcher can leave

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KOUROU (FRENCH GUYANA) - Same time, 24 hours later. The launch postponed in the Kourou spaceport in French Guyana will take place at 9.54am Italian time. At the start there are five satellites, among which a new constellation component for the observation of the COSMO-SKYMED Earth by ASI and the Ministry of Defense and the CHEOPS satellite of ESA for the study of extrasolar planets.

The announcement came after fourteen hours of in-depth data analysis. The technicians replaced a defective component that caused problems for the Soyuz launcher software when the automatic sequence was started a few hours before take-off. No problem for satellites.

These are unforeseen contingencies. Space launches are extremely complex and, given the value of the stakes involved, we prefer not to risk when we notice even the smallest anomaly. Each of the departing satellites is the result of huge investments and long years of work.