PARIS, March 5, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The first commercial mission of Europe's new heavy-lift rocket Ariane 6 has been rescheduled to Thursday, French company Arianespace said, after the launch was called off last minute.

The rocket was slated to lift off Monday, but postponed due to an "anomaly".

After reviewing the ground equipment, the company said it is now targeting a launch on "March 6, 2025 at 1:24 pm local time in Kourou" (1624 GMT).

"Ariane 6 and its passenger, the CSO-3 satellite, are in stable and safe conditions," the company said in a statement.

Monday's launch from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana was scrapped just 30 minutes before the scheduled liftoff, due to a valve malfunction on one of the launcher's fuelling pipes.

It was the latest of several postponements for the rocket as Europe seeks to secure independent access to space and reduce its reliance on the United States.

The mission aims to take the CSO-3 satellite into space, completing a network of three French military imaging satellites, with the first two launched in 2018 and 2020 on Russian Soyuz rockets.