After a wetsuit rehearsal at the launch pad in French Guiana, Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket is on schedule for its inaugural launch.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced during a press conference on June 25 that the rehearsal was a “complete success”. After years of delays, ESA is confident that their Ariana 6 rocketconsidered the future of Europe’s ability to launch satellites in The Earth orbit, will finally leave the earth. ESA and French launch provider Arianspacewho commercially operate the rocket, are preparing for a July 9 launch. The three-hour window opens at 14:00 EDT (1800 GMT).
“Of course, we’re still analyzing the data – it could take a few more days. But everything we have so far shows that our baby Ariane 6 is working perfectly,” said Lucia Linares, Head of Strategy and Institutional Launches at ESA.
The rehearsal was held on June 20. Operators first let the 295-foot (90-meter) rocket stand free on the pad, unsupported by its portal, for the first time time sometime. They then cooled the rocket to cryogenic temperatures and filled it with fuel, all the while performing system checks, before draining it completely in preparation for the actual launch. ESA will release detailed test results later this week, but for now Ariane 6 appears to be functioning as planned, mission managers said.
“All the verification that was done did not prove any anomalous behavior,” said Michel Bonnet, ESA’s head of Ariane 6’s first flight. “So, based on that, we are still very confident about [July 9] launch date.”
Connected: Finally: Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket is set to debut on July 9
The flight plan of the Ariane 6 inaugural launch to low earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 320 miles (520 kilometers). This launch will not be just a test flight – once in orbit, the rocket will be released nine cubes. Also on board Ariane 6’s Vinci upper stage are four non-orbital experiments, incl appliance which will test a system for rapid localization of satellites and two capsules which will fall from orbit into the Pacific Ocean to test if they can re-enter Earth’s atmosphere successfully.
However, Vinci will burn. The upper stage can be re-triggered multiple times once in orbit, which could allow a single launch to deploy multiple satellites at different altitudes — and, as planned for this first flight — to deorbit the spacecraft and prevent it from drifting endlessly as debris or for the Earth to fall unchecked.
The stakes for Europe’s launch capabilities are high. Ariane 6 is intended to replace the venerable Ariane 5, which took off for the last time last year after 117 launches and 27 years of service. Since then, European launches have been dependent on other – mostly American – vehicles.
In these final days before launch, ESA and its partners are keen to highlight their displeasure with this post-Ariane 5 status quo – and the possibility that Ariane 6 could change it if it succeeds. “This is an important moment in European space history and for European sovereignty,” said Carina Laveau, director of space transport at CNES, France’s national space agency.
Ariane 6 is scheduled for about 9 to 12 launches per year until 2026. Even before the vehicle’s first flight, both national space agencies and private companies have already booked 30 missions. The highest-profile customer is Amazon, which has so far ordered 18 launches for the slate Kuiper satellite constellation.
That first launch was actually originally planned for 2020, but a series of technical issues — coupled with disruptions from both COVID-19 and Russian invasion of Ukraine — have caused repeated delays. The a failure of Europe’s other Vega C rocket in late 2022 has only raised the stakes for ESA when it comes to this new rocket.
However, Ariane 6 officials expressed optimism that all problems are firmly behind them. “We’re ready to launch,” Linares said.
