Updated July 9 at 3:30 pm ET: An Ariane 6 rocket lifted off from the European Space Launch Complex in French Guiana at 3:00 p.m. ET. Stage separation is going well, as is the ignition of the Finch upper stage engine, which is operating in space for the first time.
Updated July 9 at 12:44 pm ET: Due to a minor issue with the data acquisition system (which has been resolved), the Ariane 6 launch window has now been postponed to 3pm ET.
The original text of the article is as follows:
The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to launch its Ariane 6 rocket, hoping to restore Europe’s ability to reach Earth’s orbit after several delays and technical issues hampered development of its next-generation heavy-lift launch vehicle.
Ariane 6 is scheduled to launch from the European Spaceport in French Guiana on Tuesday in a four-hour launch window that opens at 2 p.m. ET. The first launch of the rocket will be broadcast live online by ESA channel, You can also listen via the feed below.
The expendable Ariane 6 rocket has been in development for more than a decade and is key to sustaining the growth of the European space industry. The launch vehicle is available in two models: Ariane 62 and Ariane 64. Designed to carry government and satellites. Its more powerful counterpart, the Ariane 64, is equipped with four solid rocket boosters and can deliver up to 11.5 tons to GTO and 20 tons to LEO (by comparison, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 can deliver 8.3 tons, 22.8 tons to LEO) to low Earth orbit). Ariane 64 is intended for commercial satellite operators.
The 197-foot-tall (60-meter) rocket was developed by France’s Arianespace and will serve as the successor to the now-retired Ariane 5. flight, ending a 27-year run. Ariane 5 is Europe’s main vehicle into space, without which it would have to use rockets to get its payloads into orbit. Europe no longer has access to Soyuz rockets after it severed ties with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Instead, ESA was forced to turn to the private American company SpaceX to deliver its Euclid telescope, which was launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on July 1, 2023.
Ariane 6 was initially scheduled to launch in 2020, but was later rescheduled to late 2022, largely due to the covid-19 pandemic and other technical hurdles in the rocket’s development.
The Rockets’ grand debut is finally here. On its first flight, Ariane 6 will carry a number of small satellites and demonstrate onboard experiments to test its capabilities. At the end of the flight, the rocket’s upper stage will undergo a controlled reentry and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere rather than linger in orbit as space junk. Unlike some other next-generation rockets, Ariane 6 is not reusable. Its successor, currently in production, will be partially reusable. Ariane Next is scheduled to debut sometime in the 2030s.
Ariane 6 already has a backlog of 30 launches due to delays in its first flight. Much of the upcoming mission will be to launch Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet satellites into orbit. However, just weeks before liftoff, European organization Eumetsat withdrew from the upcoming mission, which was scheduled to launch aboard Ariane 6.
“This decision has been taken in exceptional circumstances,” EUMETSAT director general Phil Evans said in a statement. “It does not undermine our standard policy of supporting our European partners.” Still, it doesn’t sit well Reflecting the European market’s confidence in the Ariane 6 rocket.
The success of Ariane 6’s first flight means a lot, and I hope the rocket can rise to the challenge.
For more spaceflight in your life, follow us on X and bookmark Gizmodo’s dedicated spaceflight page.
