{"id":9904,"date":"2025-03-03T21:34:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T13:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/arianespace-successfully-launches-ariane-6s-first-commercial-launch-following-monday-scrub\/"},"modified":"2025-03-03T21:34:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T13:34:26","slug":"arianespace-successfully-launches-ariane-6s-first-commercial-launch-following-monday-scrub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/arianespace-successfully-launches-ariane-6s-first-commercial-launch-following-monday-scrub\/","title":{"rendered":"Arianespace successfully launches Ariane 6\u2019s first commercial launch following Monday scrub"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_68903\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-68903\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-68903\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250306_Ariane-6_launch.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"619\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250306_Ariane-6_launch.jpeg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250306_Ariane-6_launch-300x212.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250306_Ariane-6_launch-678x479.jpeg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250306_Ariane-6_launch-768x543.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-68903\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Ariane 6 rocket lifts off from Europe\u2019s Spaceport in French Guiana on Thursday, March 6, 2025. It marked the first commercial and second overall flight for this rocket program. Image: ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE-ArianeGroup \/ Optique vid\u00e9o du CSG \u2013 P PIRON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em><strong>Update March 6, 3:20 p.m. EST (2020 UTC): Arianespace confirms mission success and CNES confirmed acquisition of signal with the CSO-3 satellite.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Arianespace succeeded with the launch of the first Ariane 6 rocket of the year and the second in program history on Thursday, March 6.<\/p>\n<p>The launch from French Guiana came following a mission scrub on Monday due to a ground system issue. Liftoff from Europe\u2019s Spaceport happened at 1:24 p.m. Kourou time (11:24 a.m. EST, 1624 UTC).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe second successful flight of Ariane 6 marks a significant milestone in Europe\u2019s journey towards enhanced autonomous access to space,\u201d said Josef Aschbacher, ESA\u2019s Director General. \u201cAriane 6 is a bedrock of this endeavour, paving the way for a promising future for European space activities, alongside Vega-C and new European launchers on the horizon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis achievement would not have been possible without the dedication, collaboration, and hard work of our incredible teams. My heartfelt thanks go out to all colleagues who have made this monumental accomplishment possible. Together, we are elevating the future of Europe \u2013 and remember, it all starts with a launch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iE5Kb-r0xW4?si=r1pqqz-pIuy1qnzq\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The mission was the first customer flight of the 56 m (184 ft) tall rocket, which once again used a short payload fairing (14-meters-long \/ 46-feet-long) and two P120C solid rocket motors. Unlike the first mission, all planned burns of the Vinci engine on the upper stage performed as expected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first commercial launch of Ariane 6 demonstrates what will become regular with several Ariane 6 launches planned for 2025,\u201d said Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA Director of Space Transportation. \u201cThe upper stage also showed its full potential, a unique piece of hardware that can ensure all types of missions to orbit while also actively avoid becoming space debris itself, reaffirming Europe\u2019s commitment to minimize in-orbit space debris.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Onboard the rocket was the third and final satellite for the French military\u2019s Optical Space Component (CSO\u2013 Composante Spatiale Optique) program. Arianespace said the CSO-3 satellite will operate in concert with the CSO-1 satellite, launched on Dec. 19, 2018, and CSO-2, launched on Dec. 29, 2020, to help in providing defense and reconnaissance information for the French Air and Space Force\u2019s Space Command (CDE).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPositioned in Sun-synchronous orbits at different altitudes, the three satellites carry out two different missions: reconnaissance for CSO-1 and CSO-3, geared towards providing coverage, acquisition over theaters of operations and revisit capability, and identification for CSO-2, to supply the highest possible level of resolution, image quality and analytical precision,\u201d said Arianespace in a press release.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_68869\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-68869\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-68869\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250302_CSO-3_rendering.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250302_CSO-3_rendering.jpg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250302_CSO-3_rendering-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250302_CSO-3_rendering-678x381.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250302_CSO-3_rendering-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-68869\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artists rendering of the CSO-3 spacecraft. Graphic: MIRA PRODUCTION\/R\u00e9my Parot \u2013 S\u00e9bastien Gentet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The spacecraft is designed to have a 10-year lifespan and will be launched into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of about 800 km and an inclination of 98 degrees. It will deploy from the Ariane 6 rocket at about an hour and six minutes following liftoff.<\/p>\n<p>The constellation of satellites for the CSO system will help bolster the Multinational Space-based Imaging System (MUSIS), which is led by the French Defence Procurement and Technology Agency (DGA). It tapped the French space agency (CNES) to manage the satellite contracts and launch procurement.<\/p>\n<p>The CSO satellites are built by Airbus Defence and Space with Thales Alenia Space as the prime contractor for the spacecrafts\u2019 very high resolution (VHR) optical imaging instrument.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Ariane 6 rocket lifts off from Europe\u2019s Spaceport in French Guiana on Thursday, March 6, 2025. It marked the first commercial and second overall flight for this rocket program. Image: ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE-ArianeGroup \/ Optique vid\u00e9o du CSG \u2013 P PIRON Update March 6, 3:20 p.m. EST (2020 UTC): Arianespace confirms mission success and CNES confirmed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[260,1178,498,690,1179,246,1180],"class_list":["post-9904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ariane-6","tag-ariane-62","tag-arianespace","tag-cnes","tag-cso-3","tag-esa","tag-french-air-and-space-force"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}