One of the Galileo satellites (Archive photo, Ansa)
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04 December 2021The adverse weather conditions on the Kourou spaceport once again stop the launch of the two satellites Galileo Foc 23 and 24.
Arianespace announced during the night that "due to adverse weather conditions, the launch operations have been interrupted".
The launch was initially scheduled for December 1 but then the weather at the Kourou launch base got worse and the flight was rescheduled first for the night between December 2 and 3 (Italian time) and now for the next night between Saturday. is Sunday.
"The Soyuz launch vehicle and the spacecraft are in stable and safe condition" confirms Arianespace which rescheduled the launch tonight, December 4, at 9:19 pm Kourou time, 1:19 am on the night of December 5. Paris.
Galileo is the most accurate new satellite navigation system in the world serving over two billion users around the planet; more reliable than the US GPS and the Russian Glonass, it will be especially useful for Search and Rescue and Civil Protection tasks. The full operational capacity phase of the program is managed and financed by the European Union.
The European Commission, ESA and EUSPA (the EU Agency for Space Programs) have signed an agreement under which ESA acts as lead partner for the design and development of the system on behalf of the Commission and Euspa as manager of the exploitation and operations of Galileo / Egnos.
Italy also plays a leading role in the program through the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and through the involvement of the national aerospace industry, in particular the Leonardo group, with Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space and the company's Electronics Division. .