Europe\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Set for liftoff from French Guiana, the new rocket will be Europe\u2019s flagship launcher for the next decade, providing rides to space for European science probes, navigation satellites, and military payloads. Ariane 6 also has a toehold in the commercial market, with a contract for 18 launches to deliver satellites to orbit for Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper broadband network.<\/p>\n
The first Ariane 6 rocket has a four-hour launch window opening at 2 pm EDT (18:00 UTC) Tuesday to depart the European-run Guiana Space Center in South America.<\/p>\n
\u201cAriane 6 is Europe\u2019s workhorse for guaranteed access to space,\u201d said Lucia Linares, head of space transportation strategy and institutional launches at the European Space Agency. \u201cIt is a true European public and industrial undertaking with the involvement of 13 European Space Agency member states and more than 600 companies across Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The launch comes a decade after officials settled on the basic design of the expendable Ariane 6 launcher, and nine years after the European Space Agency awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to a consortium of European companies to develop the continent\u2019s next big rocket.<\/p>\n
The debut of Ariane 6 also comes almost exactly a year after the final flight of the Ariane 5 rocket, which notched 117 flights from 1996 through 2023. The Ariane 5, like the Ariane 4 and other Ariane rockets before it, was a market leader for launching large commercial communications satellites until SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket took the top position in recent years.<\/p>\n
ESA is overseeing the Ariane 6 demonstration flight before handing over commercial operations to Arianespace later this year. You can watch ESA\u2019s live broadcast of the inaugural Ariane 6 launch below.<\/p>\n