First launch of Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket planned for June-July

The European House Company introduced on Thursday that the long-delayed first launch of its next-generation Ariane 6 rocket will happen between June 15 and July 31 subsequent 12 months.

The rocket launcher system was initially deliberate to blast off in 2020, however the COVID-19 pandemic and repeated technical issues have saved it on the bottom, depriving Europe of an impartial strategy to ship heavy missions into space.

ESA chief Josef Aschbacher informed a press convention that the announcement of the 2024 launch date vary got here after the “full success” of a costume rehearsal at Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana final week.

That test concerned firing up the launcher’s Vulcain 2.1 engine and operating it for greater than seven minutes.

Aschbacher mentioned it was a “good day” for European space efforts, including {that a} extra exact launch date is predicted to be introduced in March or April 2024.

Philippe Baptiste, the pinnacle of French space company CNES, mentioned that the choice about an actual date would observe a “basic qualification assessment” of the launcher.

The Ariane 6 nonetheless has to go two extra checks below “degraded situations” on December 3 and 15.

Martin Sion, CEO of the rocket’s producer ArianeGroup, mentioned these checks will confirm that the launcher’s “reliability and robustness” meets expectations.

The Ariane 6 was designed to maintain up with rising competitors within the rocket market together with from billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Its workhorse predecessor, the Ariane 5, blasted off for the final time in July after 27 years of launches.

With the smaller Vega C grounded following a launch failure in December and Russia withdrawing its Soyuz rockets in response to sanctions over Moscow’s battle in Ukraine, the ESA has been left with out an impartial strategy to launch missions till the Ariane 6 is prepared.

© 2023 AFP