Next Ariane 6 launch VA264 scheduled for 12 August 2025

On August 12, 2025 at 9:37 p.m. local time (00:37 a.m. UTC, 2:37 a.m. CEST, on August 13), Arianespace will launch EUMETSAT’s Metop-SGA1 satellite with Ariane 6 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The mission, designated VA264, will be the second commercial flight for Ariane 6, the new European heavy-lift launcher. It will place its passenger, the Metop-SGA1 satellite, into Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at an altitude of around 800 km. Spacecraft separation will occur 1 hour and 4 minutes after lift-off.

The Metop-SGA1 (Second Generation A1) satellite will be the first of the next generation of European polar-orbiting weather satellites. Metop-SGA1 will host a total of six atmospheric sounding and imaging instrument missions that will provide optical, infrared, and microwave observations essential data for weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and a wide range of other services and applications. Amongst its hosts, Metop-SGA1 will carry the new Sentinel-5 atmospheric monitoring mission, part of the European Commission’s Copernicus programme.