By AFP and Blue Shift | 2025-03-04

SpaceX and the European Space Agency (ESA) both called off major rocket launches on March 3, with SpaceX aborting its Starship test flight just minutes before liftoff because of an unspecified issue, while Europe's new heavy-lift Ariane 6 rocket also faced a last-minute cancellation amid a ground "anomaly."

For Ariane 6, it was the latest of several postponements for the rocket as Europe seeks to secure independent access to space.

"An anomaly was detected ... a valve was found to be dysfunctional on one of the pipes that refuel the launcher," said Ariane chief David Cavaillolès.

The launch had been scheduled to blast off from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 1.24 pm. While there had been some scattered rain in Kourou, teams on the ground had received the green light until just minutes before blast off.

"The only possible decision now is to postpone the launch," said Cavaillolès. "I have no doubt that we will have another flight again soon."

SpaceX upgrades spacecraft

In the United States, Starship, the world's biggest and most powerful rocket, was set to take off with no crew at 6.45pm from SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

"Standing down from today's flight test attempt," SpaceX posted on X. "Starship team is determining the next best available opportunity to fly."

Both SpaceX and X are owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

A rescheduled launch has yet to be announced, though SpaceX employee Dan Huot said it was expected "to be about 24 hours" during a live feed of the event.

It would have been Starship's eighth orbital mission overall and first since a dramatic mid-air explosion over the Caribbean during its last trial in January.

Standing 122.8 meters tall -- about 30.5 meters taller than the Statue of Liberty -- Starship is designed to eventually be fully reusable and plays a crucial role in Musk and SpaceX's vision of colonizing Mars.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded Starship after its previous flight on January 16 ended with the upper stage disintegrating in a fiery cascade over the Turks and Caicos Islands, prompting cleanup efforts for fallen debris.

On February 28, the FAA said Starship could return to flight before it finalizes its review of SpaceX's "mishap investigation."

For the upcoming flight, SpaceX says it has introduced numerous upgrades to the upper-stage spacecraft, enhancing its reliability and performance.

Military imaging satellites

The mission, expected to last just over an hour, includes another attempt to catch the booster stage using the launch tower's "chopstick" arms -- a feat SpaceX has executed twice, including in the last flight.

Additionally, the company will deploy Starlink simulators designed to mimic next-generation Starlink satellites, which will burn up upon atmospheric reentry.

Eventually, SpaceX aims to recover the upper stage as well, but for now, it is targeting an ocean splashdown off the west coast of Australia, as in previous flights.

The launch of the Ariane 6 rocket was postponed as the European space industry struggles to remain competitive with SpaceX.

The launcher was intended to place a French military satellite in orbit at an altitude of about 800km above Earth.

Europe has not been able to use Russia's Soyuz rockets since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, while the ESA retired the workhorse Ariane 5 in 2023.

Initially planned for December, the Ariane 6 mission was delayed until February 26 and then to March 3. The ESA has not announced the next launch date.

The mission is to take the CSO-3 satellite into space. CSO-3 will complete a network of three French military imaging satellites, with the first two launched in 2018 and 2020 on Soyuz rockets.

The satellites have "orbiting cameras that take images in both visible and infrared light all over the globe, which is very important for military operations," Michel Sayegh, director of DGA, the French armament agency, told AFP.

Europe's smaller Vega-C launcher was earlier grounded for two years because of an accident that resulted in the loss of two satellites, resuming flights only last December.

The mishap left Europe without a way to launch satellites into orbit for a year, following delays to Ariane 6 and the end of cooperation with Russia.

Europe has only a handful of military satellites, compared to the hundreds of the United States and China.