Tag: Ariane 6
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Ariane 6 successfully launches on maiden flight from French Guiana
Europe’s new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, has successfully launched on its maiden flight. Liftoff occurred one hour into a four-hour launch window on Tuesday, July 9, at 19:00 UTC. Ariane 6 launched from the Ensemble de Lancement Ariane-4 (ELA-4) launch pad at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The payload for this mission…
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Europe’s long-delayed flagship rocket is about to launch for the first time
Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket is finally ready to fly, four years late but vital as ever for European governments backing the more than $4 billion project. Set for liftoff from French Guiana, the new rocket will be Europe’s flagship launcher for the next decade, providing rides to space for European science probes, navigation satellites, and…
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Launch Roundup: SpaceX flies more customer payloads and Ariane 6 debuts
As many as four SpaceX Falcon 9 missions and the long-delayed inaugural flight of Ariane 6 make up the roster for this week’s launch schedule. The four SpaceX missions will be split evenly between Starlink and two payloads for other customers. At least one of the SpaceX missions is likely to be affected by the…
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European Space Agency launches inaugural Ariane 6 rocket, encounters upper stage issue
Europe’s new rocket Ariane 6 powered Europe into space taking with it a varied selection of experiments, satellites, payload deployers and reentry demonstrations that represent thousands across Europe, from students to industry and experienced space actors. Image: M. Pédoussaut/ESA Update 7:30 p.m. EDT: An anomaly with the Auxiliary Propulsion Unit on the rocket’s upper stage…
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Rocket Report: Firefly delivers for NASA; Polaris Dawn launching this month
Welcome to Edition 7.01 of the Rocket Report! We’re compiling this week’s report a day later than usual due to the Independence Day holiday. Ars is beginning its seventh year publishing this weekly roundup of rocket news, and there’s a lot of it this week despite the holiday here in the United States. Worldwide, there…
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Mere days before its debut, the Ariane 6 rocket loses a key customer to SpaceX
In a shocking announcement this week, the European intergovernmental organization responsible for launching and operating the continent’s weather satellites has pulled its next mission off a future launch of Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket. Instead, the valuable MTG-S1 satellite will now reach geostationary orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in 2025. “This decision was driven…
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Some European launch officials still have their heads stuck in the sand
There was a panel discussion at a space conference in Singapore 11 years ago that has since become legendary in certain corners of the space industry for what it reveals about European attitudes toward upstart SpaceX. The panel included representatives from a handful of launch enterprises, including Europe-based Arianespace, and the US launch company SpaceX.…
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Rocket Report: Astroscale chases down dead rocket; Ariane 6 on the pad
Welcome to Edition 6.42 of the Rocket Report! Several major missions are set for launch in the next few months. These include the first crew flight on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, set for liftoff on May 6, and the next test flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, which could happen before the end of May. Perhaps as…
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A new era: Ariane 6 maiden launch campaign gets underway
On July 5, 2023, the Ariane 5 launch vehicle took flight for the last time, thus ending a storied 27-year career for what was Europe’s first heavy-lift rocket. Nearly ten months later, Arianespace is back at the launchpad with its new and advanced heavy-lift workhorse: the Ariane 6. For the first time, the central core…
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Rocket Report: Starship could save Mars Sample Return; BE-4s for second Vulcan
Welcome to Edition 6.40 of the Rocket Report! There was a lot of exciting news this week. For the first time, SpaceX launched a reusable Falcon 9 booster for a 20th flight. A few miles away at Cape Canaveral, Boeing and United Launch Alliance completed one of the final steps before the first crew launch…