Ariane 6 Performs

Spectacular First Flight,

Ending Europe’s Rocket
Drought
After years of delays, Ariane 6—Europe's next-generation rocket—;nally
reached space.

By Passant Rabie
Updated July 9, 2024 | Comments (2)

Update July 9, 3:30 p.m. ET: The Ariane 6 rocket blasted off from
Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana at 3:00 p.m. ET. Stage separation went
well, as did the ignition of the Vinci upper stage engine, which worked in
space for the first time.
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 The Ariane 6 booster falling away during stage separation. Credit: ESA

Update July 9, 12:44 p.m. ET: Due to a small issue with the data
acquisition system (which has already been resolved), the Ariane 6 launch
window has now been delayed to 3 p.m. ET.

Original article follows:

The European Space Agency (ESA) is getting ready to launch its Ariane 6
rocket, hoping to restore Europe’s access to Earth orbit following several
delays and technical hiccups that have marred the development of its next
generation heavy-lift vehicle.

Ariane 6 is scheduled to launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on

Tuesday during a four-hour launch window that opens at 2 p.m. ET. The
rocket’s inaugural launch will be broadcast live on ESA’s online channel, and
you can also tune in through the feed below.

The expendable Ariane 6 rocket has been in development for more than a
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 decade and is key to maintaining the growth of the European space industry.
The launch vehicle comes in two variants, Ariane 62 and 64. Ariane 62 is
capable of delivering up to 4.5 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit
(GTO) and 10 metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO), and is intended to carry
government and scientific missions using its two solid boosters. Its more
robust counterpart, Ariane 64, is equipped with four solid rocket boosters,
and can carry up to 11.5 metric tons to GTO and 20 metric tons to LEO (by
comparison, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 can deliver 8.3 metric tons to GTO and 22.8
metric tons to LEO). Ariane 64 is meant for commercial satellite operators.

The 197-foot-tall (60-meter) rocket, developed by French company

Arianespace, will serve as a successor to the now-retired Ariane 5. The
legendary rocket performed its final flight in July 2023, ending a 27-year run.
Ariane 5 was Europe’s main ride to space and, without it, was left scrambling
for rockets to deliver its payloads to orbit. After cutting ties with Russia
following its invasion of Ukraine, Europe no longer had access to Soyuz
rockets. Instead, ESA was forced to turn to private U.S. company SpaceX to
deliver its Euclid telescope, which launched on July 1, 2023 aboard a Falcon 9
rocket.

Ariane 6 was initially supposed to lift off in 2020, and it was later rescheduled
to late 2022, mainly due to the covid-19 pandemic and additional technical
hurdles encountered in the rocket’s development.

The rocket’s big debut is finally here. For its maiden flight, Ariane 6 will be
carrying a number of small satellites and demonstrating onboard experiments
to test its capabilities. At the end of its flight, the rocket’s upper stage will
perform a controlled reentry to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere rather than
linger in orbit as space trash. Unlike some other next-generation rockets,
Ariane 6 is not reusable. Its successor, which is currently in the making, will
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 be partially reusable. The aptly labeled Ariane Next is slated for its own debut
launch sometime in the 2030s.

Due to its delayed first flight, Ariane 6 has already amassed a backlog of 30
launches. The majority of the upcoming missions will be to deliver Amazon’s
Project Kuiper’s internet satellites to orbit. Just a couple of weeks before
liftoff, however, European organization Eumetsat pulled out of an upcoming
mission that was slated to launch aboard Ariane 6. Instead, it has chosen to
launch its weather satellite, MTG-S1, on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

“This decision was driven by exceptional circumstances” EUMETSAT

Director-General Phil Evans said in a statement. “It does not compromise our
standard policy of supporting European partners.” Still, it doesn’t reflect well
on the European market’s confidence in the Ariane 6 rocket.

There’s a lot riding on the success of the Ariane 6 maiden flight, and hopefully
the rocket will rise to the challenge.

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