Europe's powerful Ariane 6 rocket launches for 3rd time ever, sending weather satellite to orbit

Europe's Ariane 6 heavy-lift rocket launched for the third time ever tonight (Aug. 12), sending an advanced weather and climate satellite to orbit.

The powerful Ariane 6 lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana today at 8:37 p.m. EDT (9:37 p.m. local time in Kourou; 0037 GMT on Aug. 13).

Ariane 6, the successor to the recently retired Ariane 5, is operated by the French company Arianespace on behalf of the European Space Agency. The rocket debuted with a test flight in July 2024 and flew again this past March, successfully sending a French spy satellite to Earth orbit on the rocket's first-ever commercial mission.

a big white rocket launches into a dark night sky — An Arianespace Ariane 6 rocket launches the Metop-SGA1 weather satellite from Kourou, French Guiana on Aug. 12, 2025. It was the Ariane 6's third-ever liftoff. (Image credit: Arianespace)

Flight number three occured tonight. The payload this time was Metop-SGA1, an 8,900-pound (4,040-kilogram) weather satellite that will be operated by the international group EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites).

Ariane 6 deployed Metop-SGA1 into a polar orbit about 500 miles (800 kilometers) above Earth 64 minutes after liftoff tonight as planned, Arianespace announced via X.

After a checkout period, the satellite will start using its six onboard instruments to gather a variety of weather and climate data. It will continue to do so across its operational life expected to last 7.5 years.

"The satellite will take global observation of weather and climate from a polar orbit to a new level, providing high-resolution observations of temperature, precipitation, clouds, winds, sea ice, aerosols, pollution, soil moisture, volcanic dust and a multitude of other parameters," Arianespace representatives wrote in a mission description.

a boxy spacecraft wrapped in gold foil is seen inside a large, white-walled clean room — Technicians prepare to encapsulate the Metop-SGA1 weather satellite inside the payload fairing of its Ariane 6 rocket ahead of a planned Aug. 12, 2025 launch. (Image credit: Arianespace)

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Metop-SGA1, which was built by Airbus Defence and Space, is the first of six planned satellites in the Metop Second Generation constellation.

Tonight's liftoff was the 355th to date for Arianespace, which also currently operates a smaller rocket called the Vega C. Metop-SGA1 was the 15th spacecraft the company has launched for EUMETSAT and the 21st meteorological satellite it has lofted overall, according to the Arianespace mission description.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 8:45 p.m. EDT on Aug. 12 with news of a successful liftoff, then again at 1:35 a.m. EDT on Aug. 13 with news of satellite deployment.

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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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