Stay up late tonight to watch Europe's Ariane 6 rocket launch its 1st pair of Galileo navigation satellites

The Ariane 6, Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, is preparing for its fifth flight, a mission that will see the launch of its first pair of Galileo navigation satellites.

The launch, designated Galileo Launch 14 (L14), is scheduled for Wednesday, December 17, at 12:01 a.m. EST (0501 GMT). The event will take place at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana (2:01 a.m. local time).

These two satellites will join the 26 already active in the Galileo constellation, which serves as Europe's equivalent to the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS). Arianespace, the company that operates the Ariane 6, will provide a live broadcast of the launch, which will also be streamed on Space.com starting at 11:35 p.m. EST tonight, December 16 (0435 GMT on Dec. 17).

Following liftoff, the L14 satellites are slated to deploy approximately 3 hours and 20 minutes later. Over the subsequent three days, they will unfold their solar arrays and undergo critical systems checks. After this initial phase, the satellites will enter a four-month period of drifting and positioning before settling into their final orbital positions and commencing operations.

The Galileo constellation orbits Earth at an altitude of 14,429 miles (23,222 kilometers). Previously, most of the 1,610-pound (730 kilograms) Galileo satellites were launched using either the Ariane 5, which was retired in 2023, or the Russian-built Soyuz rocket. That said, the reality is a bit more complicated. Europe ended its reliance on the Soyuz following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

While Europe briefly turned to SpaceX's Falcon 9 to launch Galileo satellites after the invasion of Ukraine, the now-operational Ariane 6 allows the continent to independently handle these missions without needing to depend on external launch providers.