Very unusual timing. I wonder if they had some inside information that their projected launch date was likely to slip and they went searching for alternatives, or if SpaceX was just trying to win the mission and got a good combination of price and doubt in the Ariane 6? I get the feeling that SpaceX isn’t exactly hurting for customers for Falcon, so I doubt it’s the latter option.
@jqubed@llamacoffee That’s my opinion, too. Arianespace updated them with a further delayed launch date (commercially confidential). EUMETSAT decided to call SpaceX.
Very unusual timing. I wonder if they had some inside information that their projected launch date was likely to slip and they went searching for alternatives, or if SpaceX was just trying to win the mission and got a good combination of price and doubt in the Ariane 6? I get the feeling that SpaceX isn’t exactly hurting for customers for Falcon, so I doubt it’s the latter option.
@jqubed @llamacoffee That’s my opinion, too. Arianespace updated them with a further delayed launch date (commercially confidential). EUMETSAT decided to call SpaceX.