Europe is about to witness a historic event as the Ariane 6 launch rocket gets ready for its first flight on Tuesday.
On July 9, between 2:00 and 6:00 p.m. Eastern (1800 and 2200 UTC), the Ariane 6 is scheduled to lift off from the Kourou launch pad in French Guiana. The launch is being broadcast live on ESAWebTV by the European Space Agency (ESA).
With two solid boosters, the 56-meter-long “62” version of Ariane 6 will be used on its first launch. The Vulcain 2.1 engine, which runs on liquid hydrogen and oxygen, powers the main stage. This is an improvement over the primary Vulcain engine of the Ariane 5.
The larger “64,” which has four solid rockets, can lift up to 21.6 tons, whereas the 62 can only take up to 10.3 tons to low Earth orbit. However, just a few small satellites and experiments from businesses, research centers, universities, and young people will be carried on the inaugural trip.
Years of delays are followed by the first rollout. The launcher is intended to replace the aging and now-retired Ariane 5 with a less expensive model. Originally, 2020 was supposed to be the rocket’s first flight date.
The maiden launch of Ariane 6 will be a crucial and high-pressure operation for launch service provider Arianespace, European Space Agency (ESA), prime contractor ArianeGroup, and other stakeholders due to the launcher’s delays, a backlog of thirty orders, and the crises surrounding European access to space.
“For Europe it is mission critical to again have an autonomous access to space,” Hermann Ludwig Moeller, director of the European Space Policy Institute, told SpaceNews.
Its own institutional missions would be guaranteed to begin with this. This encompasses the EU Space Programme, EUMETSAT weather satellites, ESA missions, security and defense-related operations, and operator-related commercial activities, as highlighted by Moeller.
Thirteen launches for Ariane 6 are already scheduled, eighteen of which are for Amazon’s Kuiper constellation.
There is a sense of danger since, contingent upon a successful flight, Ariane will shortly increase from six to nine trips annually.
Test launches, however, are not always successful. ESA director general Josef Aschbacher moderated expectations in May by stating that “statistically, there’s a 47% chance the first flight may not succeed or happen exactly as planned.”
“Space applications such as climate monitoring, improved weather forecasting, banking and timing services, secure communications, 5G and Internet, civil and economic security, including protection of critical infrastructures in transport, energy, digital and defense applications,” continued Moeller, would benefit from the operational launcher.
“Ariane 6 is essential and a prerequisite for the implementation of a broader European space policy and strategy.”
Moeller responded, “The main impact in our view is that the focus on the launcher crisis has made it difficult to advance on other dossiers and in particular on the accelerated use of space, at a time when other space powers and commercial enterprise do exactly that, in a race,” when asked how the expendable Ariane 6 and its extensive delays have potentially cost the European space sector.
“And it is not the Falcon 9 launcher that is most visible in the debate, but the Starlink communications constellation, known to every taxi driver. It is not too late for Europe to catch-up, and IRIS2 is one step in that direction. However, the window of opportunity is now and it will close.”
Due to the unanticipated pause between Ariane 5’s retirement and Ariane 6’s launch, ESA had to launch the EarthCARE satellite in May of last year and its Euclid space telescope on a Falcon 9.
Notably, in late June, European weather satellite operator Eumetsat revealed that one of its geostationary weather satellites had been transferred from an Ariane 6 to a Falcon 9. European space authorities were taken aback by the decision, which Eumetsat claims was made for complicated but unclear reasons.
Europe is also seeking to diversify its launch services, in part as a reaction to its access to space dilemma. The commercialization of the ESA-developed Vega by prime contractor Avio was made possible by a resolution passed by the ESA Council on July 5.
Four micro- and mini-launchers from European launch service companies, Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, PLD Space, and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), were also granted permission by the Council to utilize the French Guiana spaceport.
According to an ESA statement, “These decisions set the stage for more diverse European launch services in an increasingly competitive environment.”
RFA demanded reform in a statement provided to SpaceNews. The company’s stance is that the EU and ESA should acquire the service, and the private sector should develop rockets in the future. According to RFA, “private industry shall lead service development and operation post-Ariane 6 launch.” Meanwhile, the company expressed excitement for the launch of Ariane 6 and called it “a great pan-European project.”
Moeller pointed out that Europe must look past the initial release. The accelerated use of space in all domains and for the benefit of the entire European economy, for the prosperity of its citizens, the competitiveness of its industries, the preservation of world peace, and the inspiration of future generations, is what Europe needs to focus on by July 10.