After the dress rehearsal on the launch pad in French Guiana, Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket is on schedule for its maiden launch.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced during a press conference on 25 June that the sample was a “complete success”. After years of delays, ESA is confident that its Ariane 6 rocketwhich is considered the future of European capability, Satellites in Earth orbit, will finally take off. ESA and the French launch vehicle manufacturer Arianespacewhich manages the rocket commercially, is preparing for a July 9 launch. The three-hour window opens at 2 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. GMT).
“Of course, we are still analyzing the data – that may take a few more days. But everything we have so far says that our little Ariane 6 is working perfectly,” said Lucia Linares, Head of Strategy and Institutional Launches at ESA.
The sample took place on June 20. The operators initially left the 90-meter-long rocket standing freely on the launch pad, without the support of its portal, for the first time Time They cooled the rocket to cryogenic temperatures and pumped fuel into it, all the while conducting system checks, before completely emptying it in preparation for the actual launch. ESA will release detailed results of the test later this week, but so far Ariane 6 appears to be performing as planned, mission managers said.
“All checks carried out have revealed no anomalies,” said Michel Bonnet, ESA’s head of Ariane 6’s maiden flight. “On this basis, we remain very confident that the [July 9] Publication date.”
Related: Finally: Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket to debut on July 9
The flight plan for the first launch of Ariane 6 to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 520 kilometers. This launch will not only be a test flight – once the rocket is in orbit, it will nine CubesatsThere are also four extraorbital experiments on board the Ariane 6’s Vinci upper stage, including A device A system for the rapid positioning of satellites is being tested there and two Capsules which fall from orbit into the Pacific to test whether they can re-enter Earth’s atmosphere successful.
Vinci, however, will burn up. The upper stage can be reignited multiple times in orbit, so a single launch can deploy multiple satellites at different altitudes – and, as planned for this first flight, the spacecraft can be deorbited to prevent it from floating around endlessly as debris or falling uncontrollably to Earth.
There is a lot at stake for Europe’s launch capacity. Ariane 6 is intended to replace the proven Ariane 5, which started for the last time last year after 117 launches and 27 years of service. Since then, European launches have had to rely on other – mostly American – vehicles.
In these final days before launch, ESA and its partners want to emphasise their dissatisfaction with the status quo after Ariane 5 – and the chance that Ariane 6, if successful, could change that. “This is an important moment in European space history and for European sovereignty,” said Carina Laveau, Director of Space Transport at the French space agency CNES.
Ariane 6 is scheduled to launch 9 to 12 times a year by 2026. Even before the vehicle’s maiden flight, national space agencies and private companies have already booked 30 missions. The most well-known customer is Amazon, which has so far booked 18 launches for its planned Kuiper satellite constellation.
This first launch was originally planned for 2020, but a series of technical problems – coupled with disruptions caused by COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine — have repeatedly led to delays. Fail of the European Vega-C rocket at the end of 2022 has only increased ESA’s requirements for this new rocket.
Nevertheless, those responsible for Ariane 6 expressed optimism that all problems are behind them. “We are ready to launch,” said Linares.