The French military observation satellite CSO-3, which was to be launched at the end of 2022 by a Soyuz rocket from Kourou, should finally be put into orbit by Ariane 6, about a year late, the Ministry of the Armed Forces said on Thursday.

“The option that is emerging is to use Ariane 6, the first operational flight of which is expected in the coming months,” ministry spokesman Hervé Grandjean told the press.

CSO-3 should therefore be launched about “a year” late, but according to him there is “no short-term operational impact”, the first two satellites of the constellation providing a “number of images Very important ".

Like the first two optical satellites in the CSO (Space Optical Component) constellation, CSO-3 was to be launched by the Russian Soyuz rocket from the Guiana Space Center (CSG).

Space and the Ukrainian crisis, an initial assessment.

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— Philippe Baptiste (@PhBaptiste) March 2, 2022

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Maiden flight scheduled for end of 2022

Arianespace has been collaborating since 2011 with the Russian agency Roscosmos to operate the Soyuz rocket, as part of a joint venture, Starsem.

But faced with European sanctions decreed in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow responded by suspending Soyuz firing from Kourou.

In addition to the launch of CSO-3, two other launches intended for the European satellite positioning constellation Galileo were planned for 2022.


In the absence of Soyuz, Europe does not have its own capacity to launch certain satellites before the implementation of Ariane 6. The maiden flight of the future European launcher, postponed several times, is expected at the end of the year.

Soyuz was also to be launched five times in 2022 from Baikonur to continue the deployment of the Oneweb constellation, but the operator announced on Thursday that it was suspending these launches after Russia demanded that the British government drop its participation in the satellite operator.

The CSO constellation provides useful images for intelligence – allowing for example to assess enemy forces –, targeting – by providing precise geolocation coordinates – and detailed geographic data on theaters of operations.

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