Euclid Consortium<p>Later today, the first commercial launch of an <a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/Ariane6" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ariane6</span></a> rocket is planned, after the maiden flight in July 2024 that was mostly successful. Ariane 6 had been the backup launcher for <a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/Euclid" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Euclid</span></a> for many years.</p><p>Originally and for many years, Euclid was slated to launch on a Russian <a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/Soyuz" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Soyuz</span></a> from French Guyana, which changed following the invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent stop of collaboration of <a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/ESA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ESA</span></a> with Roskosmos, the company behind Soyuz.</p><p>After this, Ariane 6 became the primary launcher on launch slot 4 or 5, but given that Euclid was almost ready for launch already in 2022, alternatives were looked into, and in the end Euclid successfully launched with a US company on 1 July 2023.</p><p>So we've been following <a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/Ariane6" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ariane6</span></a>'s development for a while. All the best for this launch 🤞🤞🏽🤞🏻.</p><p>Next <a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/ESA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ESA</span></a> <a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>astronomy</span></a> mission to be launched with Arianne 6 is the <a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/exoplanet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>exoplanet</span></a> satellite <a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/PLATO" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PLATO</span></a>, towards the end of 2026.</p><p>All about today's launch: <a href="https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Ariane" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space</span><span class="invisible">_Transportation/Ariane</span></a></p><p><a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/space" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>space</span></a> <a href="https://astrodon.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>astronomy</span></a></p>