Launch of the third Ariane 6 rocket carrying the Metop-SGA1 satellite (VA264)

  • Event

  • Transportation

  • Earth

  • Climate

The new-generation Metop-SGA1 weather satellite carries the innovative IASI-NG instrument, developed under the responsibility of CNES.

Décollage de la fusée Ariane 6 de nuit
© ESA-CNES-Arianespace/S. Martin, 2025
  • Date Tuesday August 12, 2025
  • Hours 21:37 (Kourou) - 02:37 (Paris)
  • Place Guiana Space Centre, Europe's spaceport

Ariane 6 rocket successfully lifted off from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou! Designated VA264, this mission represents the third flight and second commercial flight of the new European heavy launcher, operated by Arianespace.

The launch took place from Kourou on 12 August at 9:37 p.m. (2:37 a.m. on 13 August Paris time). Ariane 6, in its two-booster version, launched the Metop-SGA1 satellite for the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat). It placed its passenger, the Metop-SGA1 satellite, into sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of approximately 800 km.

Watch the launch live

YouTube Link to YouTube page

Focus on the passenger, Metop-SGA1, and its French instrument IASI-NG

The first European second-generation polar-orbiting meteorological satellite, Metop-SGA1 (Second Generation A1) will carry a total of six imaging and atmospheric sounding instruments that will provide observation data in the visible, infrared and microwave ranges, which are essential for weather forecasting, climate monitoring and a wide range of other services and applications. 

Among these six instruments is IASI-NG, an innovative instrument developed by CNES that measures temperature, humidity and more than 25 atmospheric components with very high accuracy.

The Metop-SGA1 satellite in the clean room at the Guiana Space Centre, in preparation for the Ariane 6 VA264 flight. © CNES/ESA/Arianespace-ArianeGroup/Optique Vidéo CSG/P. Piron, 2025