Controversy Over ESA MeteoSat Contract: European Weather Satellite

ESA Website link to MTG Sentinel-2 satellites

German government officials are blaming their own tactical error during negotiations with France for the controversy that has blocked approval of Europe’s $1.7 billion next-generation weather-satellite program since the beginning of the year and now threatens to cause lasting damage to the 18-nation European Space Agency (ESA), German government and industry officials said.

ESA’s ruling council is scheduled to meet March 17 in Paris to attempt to forge a compromise that would permit the German government to save face while at the same time approving a Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) contract valued about around 1.25 billion euros ($1.7 billion) with a consortium led by Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy, and OHB Technology of Germany.

That winning bid, in which Thales Alenia Space’s French division would be prime contractor, bested a bid by Astrium Satellites of Germany.

An ESA Technical Evaluation Board met three times before concluding that the Thales Alenia-OHB bid, which came in about 150 million euros lower than Astrium’s offer, should be favored for negotiations in view to a contract.

The decision to favor a French prime contractor — even one teaming with a German partner — has struck a raw nerve in Germany, particularly at the German Transport Ministry, which funds Germany’s contributions to Europe’s Eumetsat meteorological satellite organization.

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