Space travel - Space experts confident ahead of Ariane launch
Before the planned first flight of the new European carrier rocket Ariane 6, the head of the European Space Agency (Esa), Josef Aschbacher, expressed optimism. "The Ariane 6 will carry Europe into space," Aschbacher stated in a short news service X on Tuesday. "I feel all possible emotions as we prepare to influence European history, the future of Europe, and generations of Europeans."
The new European carrier rocket had to wait for ten years for its first launch. The attempted maiden voyage from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, is scheduled for Tuesday at 21:01 Central European Time. Esa had previously announced a launch window of 20:00 to 24:00 CET.
The Ariane 6 is associated with many hopes: It is expected to free Europe's space sector from the crisis of its launcher division. Currently, Europe has no means of its own to launch satellites into space.
A little rain won't stop the rocket
The weather forecast for the launch day looked promising. It could rain, but that wouldn't matter, Esa stated. The mobile work platform, which had been standing around the Ariane 6 for a long time, was moved away to free the rocket. The work platform building is 90 meters high and weighs 8,200 tons. It was rolled back on rails 140 meters.
Toni Tolker-Nielsen, Space Transport Director at Esa, was quite confident that everything would work out. He was 96% optimistic and 4% deeply anxious, he said. "We have done everything that needed to be done. Now we have to launch."
The 56-meter-tall and 540-tonne rocket has a roughly three-hour flight ahead of it. On board are technical passengers from Germany: The Ariane takes, among other things, the Nyx Bikini capsule from The Exploration Company and the OOV-Cube and Curium One satellites from RapidCubes and Planetary Transportation Systems into space.
A rocket is just one step of many
If everything goes well during the maiden flight, the comeback will have begun, Tolker-Nielsen said. It is then necessary to increase production capacity and establish a stable launch rhythm. Aschbacher also stated: "This is only the first step, we have a lot of work ahead of us."
The rocket manufacturer ArianeGroup also sees an opportunity to learn more about the rocket. Franck Huiban, head of civil programs at ArianeGroup, said: "The first flight is a unique opportunity to see what we can do with this rocket."
Unlike with a commercial customer, one can now test and discover things that cannot be seen on the ground. The mission was accordingly composed.
Is the Ariane 6 a modern rocket?
The Ariane 6 is the successor model to the Ariane 5, which was in use from 1996 to summer 2023. It is intended to launch satellites for commercial and public clients into space and is significantly cheaper than its predecessors.
The development of the rocket was decided upon a decade ago. Esa-Chief Aschbacher is convinced that the rocket will still meet the current challenges. The Esa praises the Ariane 6 as modular and flexible. Depending on the mission, it can be equipped with two or four boosters and can carry different payloads in a smaller or longer upper part.
Germany makes an important contribution to the Ariane 6.
According to Walther Pelzer, the General Director of the German Aerospace Agency at the German Aerospace Center, Germany played a decisive role in the innovations of the Ariane 6 rocket, specifically with the reusable upper stage. "Germany is responsible for the most significant innovation in the Ariane 6, which was produced in Germany."
The advantage of the four-time reusable Vinci engine of the upper stage is that the rocket can deliver satellites into various orbits and also bring constellations into space.
Four German sites are working on the new rocket. The upper stage is being assembled at the Bremen facility of the space consortium ArianeGroup. The tanks of the upper stage and parts of the engine come from Augsburg and Ottobrunn. The Vinci engine was tested in Lampoldshausen, Baden-Württemberg.
Financially, Germany is also heavily involved in the Ariane 6 and is, after France, the largest contributor among the ESA countries. The Federal Republic has shouldered approximately 20 percent of the around four billion Euro costs of the rocket. In total, about a dozen countries were involved in building the rocket.
Expert: Ariane 6 not on schedule
Space expert Martin Tajmar from the TU Dresden states, however, that despite the innovations, the Ariane 6 is not on schedule in comparison to its predecessor. Already in 2015, the US company SpaceX initiated the era of reusable space travel with the Falcon-9 rocket.
ESA Space Transportation Director Toni Tolker-Nielsen hints at the possibility: "The next rocket that will replace the Ariane 6 will be a reusable rocket." The ESA currently plans to use its new carrier rocket at least until the mid-2030s.
Europe wants to come out of the crisis
Space expert Tajmar emphasizes that the central task of the Ariane 6 is not to keep up commercially with the competitors, but rather to provide Europe with its own access to space and thus secure independence.
The last Ariane 5 took off from space almost exactly a year ago. Since then, Europe has had no means of its own to launch larger satellites into space and is in a deep crisis in its rocket sector. The ESA has had to resort to Falcon-9 rockets from SpaceX in the meantime.
Problems also exist for satellites of smaller size. The first commercial launch of the Vega C failed in December 2022. Since then, the rocket has been on the ground. It is planned to take off again for the first time in November.
Problems also exist for smaller satellites. The crisis is all the more devastating for Europe as it currently has no access of its own to space for smaller satellites. The first commercial launch of the Vega C failed in December 2022. Since then, the rocket has been on the ground. It is planned to take off again for the first time in November.
Pelzer states that the first launch is both strategically and industrially very important for Europe and Germany. ArianeGroup is cautious and says that the maiden flight is essentially the ultimate test flight, but Tolker-Nielsen from the ESA is certain: "Everything has been done to make it a success. If it fails, that would be really bad."
Information on the Ariane 6
- The first flight of the Ariane 6 is scheduled from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, with a launch time set for 21:01 Central European Time.
- Rains on the launch day won't stop the rocket, as Esa confirmed, and the mobile work platform was moved away to free the rocket.
- The new European carrier rocket, Ariane 6, is associated with many hopes, as it is expected to free Europe's space sector from its launcher division crisis and offer its own means to launch satellites into space.
- Toni Tolker-Nielsen, Space Transport Director at Esa, expressed confidence in the success of the maiden flight, stating they have done everything needed and that they have a 96% chance of a flawless launch.
- Germany is also heavily involved in the Ariane 6 project, making significant contributions, including innovations like the reusable upper stage, and financially, being the second-largest contributor after France.
- Space expert Martin Tajmar from the TU Dresden states that the Ariane 6 is not on schedule compared to its predecessor, as SpaceX initiated reusable space travel with the Falcon-9 rocket in 2015.
- Despite the delay, Europe wants to come out of the crisis in its rocket sector, and the last Ariane 5 took off almost a year ago, leaving Europe with no means of its own to launch larger satellites into space, forcing it to rely on Falcon-9 rockets from SpaceX.
