Overview

• Ground teams completed critical pre-launch operations including flight adaptor mating, fairing encapsulation and loading of two toxic propellants.
• SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch the Meteosat Third Generation Sounder at 23:03 CEST, deploying it toward geostationary transfer orbit.
• Once operational MTG-S1 will profile temperature and moisture over Europe every 30 minutes.
• The Copernicus Sentinel-4 instrument will capture hourly data on aerosols, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide across Europe and northern Africa.
• The switch from Ariane 6 to Falcon 9 underscores Europe’s challenge in safeguarding independent access to space under tight schedules.