The Leo Europe 03 mission will see Arianespace send a batch of 36 Amazon Leo satellites into low Earth orbit. Liftoff from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana is scheduled during a window that opens up at 8:53 a.m. Kourou time (7:53 a.m. EDT / 1153 UTC).
The launch will be managed by Arianespace and will carry the third satellite for the Optical Space Component (CSO– Composante Spatiale Optique) program. Liftoff is scheduled for Thursday, March 6, at 1:24 p.m. Kourou time (11:24 a.m. EST, 1624 UTC).
The first flight of the rocket will carry several payloads unto low Earth orbit for a variety of customers, including NASA. The rocket launched from French Guiana on July 9, 2024, at 4 p.m. GFT (3 p.m. EDT, 1900 UTC), however, it ran into the anomaly about an hour and 50 minutes into the mission.
European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher said Thursday the Ariane 6 is expected to launch for the first time between June 15 and July 31, 2024. The determination comes on the heels of what ESA determined to be a successful hot fire test of the rocket’s main engine.