Ariane 6 breathes new life into Brussels and ESA's space ambitions

The first Ariane 6 rises majestically, leaving a long trail of smoke and carrying the hopes of the hundreds of thousands of professionals in Europe who are linked to the space sector - PHOTO/ESA-M. Pedessaut 
Juan Pons
10 de julio de 2024 (15:58 h.)
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Europe
The success of the new ultra-terrestrial delivery vehicle revives Europe's ambitions to consolidate its position as a global space power
  1. Looking ahead to 2027
  2. What has not worked as expected

The expectations placed in Ariane 6 have been fulfilled! Joy in abundance, contained euphoria, relief and a lot of emotion and nerves is what the eyewitnesses from Guyana have experienced and transmitted as they watched the take-off and flight into space of the first Ariane 6. 

These are the same feelings experienced by more than a thousand professionals from the Spanish companies Airbus Space Systems in Getafe, Airbus CRISA in Tres Cantos, GTD in Barcelona and its dozens of suppliers, together with nearly 600 other European companies that, in one way or another, have contributed their technology and their efforts to make the success of Ariane 6 a reality on its inaugural mission.

ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher and his guests watch with satisfaction on 9 July as the new European spacecraft ascends on a sunny afternoon in French Guiana - PHOTO/ESA 

Speaking after the end of the mission and once the tensions that had built up during the historic day had subsided, the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), the Austrian Josef Aschbacher, said he was "super excited and happy" about the success of the first attempt, which "effectively restores Europe's ability to put its own large satellites into space and demonstrate the excellence of European engineering".  

Martin Sion, CEO of ArianeGroup, prime contractor for Ariane 6, expressed himself in similar terms, saying that the successful first flight gives him "a sense of relief" and brings the European space industry "into a new era". "Ariane is back," he said with satisfaction.

For Stéphane Israel, CEO of Arianespace, the French company that will market the new rocket worldwide and which in a few weeks' time will assume full responsibility for the next flights, "the operational career of Ariane 6 is now beginning".

Looking ahead to 2027

The second launch is scheduled for the fourth quarter of the year and its passenger is the third French spy satellite in the CSO constellation, which is already about a year behind schedule.

Arianespace's order book amounts to 29 institutional and scientific missions, from ESA and the EU. Also commercial, from satellite communications operators such as Eutelsat, Intelsat and Optus. In the package of contracts already signed, 18 launches are booked for the giant Amazon, which with its Kuiper constellation wants to offer internet on a global scale. 

Technicians at the Kourou space base supervise from the Jupiter Mission Control Centre the final moments of the launch campaign, liftoff and the entire Ariane 6 mission - PHOTO/CNES-Optique Video CSG-J. Odang 

The overall good performance on 9 July marks Ariane 6's entry into the international launch services market. If the second mission in 2024 is a further success, the plan is to perform six flights in 2025, eight in 2026 and ten or more in 2027," confirmed the Arianespace director.

The Ariane 6 system passed its test with flying colours and achieved most of its objectives. But not all of them. The new launch platform for Ariane 6 (ELA 4) has been validated. The two P120 solid fuel boosters attached to the main stage performed as expected, as did the Vulcain cryogenic main engine on the first stage.

Image of the Ariane 6's initial trajectory over French Guiana, accompanied from a distance by one of the three Rafale fighters deployed there by the French air force to provide air protection for take-off - PHOTO/Armée Air Espace 

The rocket's crucial guidance system performed as expected, the micro-satellites it was to deploy were deployed at 580 kilometres and the Vinci cryogenic re-ignitable second stage engine performed as expected.

What has not worked as expected

Vinci can be switched on and off a total of four times - three ignitions were scheduled for the 9 July flight - giving Ariane 6 the ability to position several passengers in different orbits, and even de-orbit and re-enter the second stage into the atmosphere to cause its destruction.

However, a malfunction of the so-called Auxiliary Propulsion Unit (APU) linked to the Vinci engine has prevented the completion of the third re-ignition and, consequently, the second stage from heading towards the Earth's atmosphere and burning in its upper layers.

Summary sequence explaining the different phases and timing of the Ariane 6 maiden mission - PHOTO/ESA 

Since this has not been achieved, two small re-entry spacecraft demonstrators could not be deployed and are still attached to the upper stage, which will continue to circle the Earth for years or even decades. It will remain so until the micro-gravity in low Earth orbit accelerates its descent and it finally burns up completely in the atmosphere. 

At the International Aerospace Exhibition in Berlin in June, Josef Aschbacher emphasised the importance of the German space industry's contribution to Ariane 6 to German Chancellor Scholz - PHOTO/ESA-M. Polo 

The fact that this first Ariane 6 carried micro-satellites and other smaller payloads rather than large spacecraft has allowed a high volume of measurement devices to be carried, which are not common on routine space flights. To get as much information from the maiden mission as possible, the new rocket has travelled "packed with sensors", whose data will be subjected to rigorous analysis in order to obtain "the maximum amount of fine detail from the flight".

Moment of separation of one of the two P120 solid thrusters that serve to propel the Ariane 6. The upper part from the two calls is a break line. Such an upper structure has been manufactured in Getafe by Airbus - PHOTO/ESA

Ariane 6 blasted off into space on 9 July, at 21:00 GMT, an hour behind the scheduled liftoff time, which is not at all atypical for the industry. The main reason for the short delay was to "be absolutely certain that all ground tracking stations along Ariane 6's trajectory were correctly linked via satellite to the Jupiter Mission Control Centre in Guyana," ESA officials confirm.

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Europe