SpaceX Rules out Plans to Launch Italian Earth Satellite Due to Ground Systems Issue

SpaceX was forced to scrub the launch of an Italian Earth observation satellite on December 27, 2025, due to a ground systems issue at its launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. 

The mission has been rescheduled to Sunday, December 28, though an exact launch time has not yet been announced.

The mission was set to be SpaceX’s final Falcon 9 launch of the year. Once launched, the 70-meter-tall rocket will carry the Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation Flight Model 3 (CSG-FM3) satellite into low Earth orbit on behalf of Italy.

The satellite serves both civilian and military purposes for the Italian government and is jointly managed by the Italian Space Agency and the Ministry of Defense. It was integrated inside the Falcon 9’s payload fairing ahead of launch.

The Falcon 9 booster assigned to the mission, B1081, will be flying for the 21st time. Previous missions for this booster include NASA’s Crew-7, PACE, and TRACERS missions. 

About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the booster is expected to attempt a landing at Landing Zone 4, which would mark the 31st landing at that site and the 554th Falcon booster landing overall.

The CSG-FM3 satellite is expected to be deployed approximately 17 minutes after liftoff.

CSG-FM3 is the third satellite in the Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation constellation. 

The first satellite launched in January 2021 aboard a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana, while the second launched in 2022 on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral. 

A total of four satellites, manufactured by Thales Alenia Space, are planned for the constellation.

The spacecraft are equipped with X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), allowing them to capture high-resolution images through cloud cover and in darkness. 

They operate in a Sun-synchronous polar orbit inclined at 97.87 degrees. Data from the satellite is made publicly available through the European Space Agency’s Third Party Missions Programme.

According to ESA, the Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation system is designed to support a wide range of applications, including risk management, environmental monitoring, natural resource exploration, defense and security, maritime surveillance, agriculture, and emergency response, providing global Earth observation data for both institutional and commercial users.