Ariane 6 rocket launch: What is it and when is it happening?
Europe is set to regain its capacity to launch satellites into space when the Ariane 6 rocket finally flies after years of delays
By Matthew Sparkes
8 July 2024
Artist’s depiction of the Ariane 6 rocket
ESA-D. Ducros
What is Ariane 6?
Ariane 6 is the latest model in the Ariane line of rockets – Europe’s own satellite launchers. The project dates back to a proposal from 1973 and the first flight of the Ariane 1 rocket took place just six years later in 1979.
The last version to fly was Ariane 5, which had 112 successful missions out of 117 attempted launches, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. But it was retired last year to make way for Ariane 6, which has lower expected launch costs.
The loss of Ariane 5 and the European Space Agency (ESA) severing its links with Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine meant that Europe briefly had no direct way to launch satellites and was forced to turn to the commercial sector.
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The ultimate idea is for the rocket to not only pick up all of these government launches in future, but also to offer its own commercial launch service – it already has orders from Amazon to launch Kuiper internet satellites.
How big is Ariane 6?
Ariane 6 stands 63 metres tall, with a diameter of 5.4 metres, and can launch up to 21,650 kilograms to low Earth orbit. This falls short of the payload capacity of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), China’s Long March 10 and SpaceX’s Starship, but it will be capable of putting a range of spy, weather and global positioning satellites into orbit.
The main advantage of Ariane 6 isn’t its payload, but its lower costs and simpler production. It has been designed by aerospace company ArianeGroup to be easier and faster to build and launch than its predecessor, giving ESA the ability to launch once a month if needed.
