French Minister Heralds European Space Launch Autonomy In Changing Geopolitical Landscape

France’s Minister for Higher Education and Research heralded Europe’s space launch autonomy following the first commercial launch of the new Ariane 6 rocket today. Philippe Baptiste, who until recently headed France’s space agency CNES, minced no words in pointing to the changing relationship between the United States and Europe and Elon Musk’s influence on U.S. space activities as a further impetus for Europe’s need to be able to launch its own satellites, not rely on others.

Ariane 6 successfully placed France’s CSO-3 military reconnaissance satellite into orbit today.

????On March 6 #Arianespace successfully launched with #Ariane6 the CSO-3 satellite for @DGA & @CNES on behalf of @Armee_de_lair @Armees_Gouv.

Arianespace guarantees independent access to space for France and Europe, meeting a strategic priority.

Release: https://t.co/7h3xgPKva9 pic.twitter.com/OU6EsdPxZ5

— Arianespace (@Arianespace) March 6, 2025

It was only the second flight of Ariane 6. The first, a test flight in July 2024, was years late. Despite a second stage anomaly, the team that designed and developed it  — CNES, the European Space Agency, and ArianeGroup and its subsidiary Arianespace — consider it a success.

Baptiste was CEO of CNES at the time. He was appointed to his current position on December 23, 2024.

Europe has been proud of its space launch autonomy since the first Ariane launch in 1979 from CNES’s Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America. Ariane 1 ended Europe’s reliance on the United States to launch European satellites and opened competition with U.S. launch providers.  New versions of the “heavy lift” Ariane rocket were introduced over the decades and Europe added a small launcher, Vega, to its fleet in 2012. For mid-sized payloads, France signed an agreement with Russia to use Soyuz ST rockets launching from Kourou. The first was in 2011, giving Europe access to space for its own satellites and in the commercial marketplace for the full range of small, medium and heavy payloads.

That changed in February 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ended European-Russian space cooperation across the board, including launch. At the same time, delays in development of Ariane 6 and an upgraded Vega threw Europe into what ESA Director General Joseph Aschbacher called a  “crisis.”  The final flight of Ariane 5 in July 2023 left a one-year gap before Ariane 6 was finally ready. The upgraded Vega-C failed on its second flight in December 2022 and didn’t fly again for two years.  After decades of using only European rockets to launch European government satellites, ESA and the European Union had to buy launches from Elon Musk’s SpaceX to get critical spacecraft into orbit or on their way to deep space.

Ariane 6 and Vega-C are now operational and Europe once again has autonomous access to space.

Baptiste is exuberant.  In comments on the Arianespace webcast, he congratulated everyone involved in the launch, which is “proof of our space sovereignty.”

“We are facing a new global reality in the space sector. The return of Donald Trump to the White House with Elon Musk at his side already has significant consequences on our research partnerships, on our commercial partnerships.  Should I mention the uncertainties weighing today on our cooperation with NASA and NOAA, when emblematic programs like the ISS are being unilaterally questioned by Elon Musk?”

Musk posted on X two weeks ago that the International Space Station (ISS) should be deorbited in two years instead of in 2030 as currently planned.  France and 10 other European countries are partners in the ISS along with the United States, Russia, Canada and Japan.

Europe must have sovereignty in space and “not yield to the temptation of preferring SpaceX or another competitor that may seem trendier, more reliable, or cheaper,” Baptiste continued.

“This first commercial launch of Ariane 6 is not just a technical and one-off success. It marks a new milestone, essential in the choice of European space independence and sovereignty. In the labyrinth of the global space race, Ariane 6 is the guiding thread of our strategic autonomy for the years to come.

“We must also collectively advance, as Europeans, on the governance of Europe’s space ambitions. We must ask ourselves all the questions, without taboos. For Europe in space, I am convinced that the European Union must fully assume its role as the political leader in this matter.  The challenges are immense, no one knows this better than we do. But I would like to echo the words of Mario Draghi who spoke about our world order being shaken from all sides: ‘We have no choice but to be confident. We must be optimistic.'”

Baptiste spoke in French with subtitles provided on the webcast.