The European Ariane 6 rocket will debut on July 9

June 7 () –

The new Ariane 6 heavy rocket will be launched for the first time on July 9 from the European Spaceport in the French Guiana

Ariane 6 is Europe’s new heavy-lift launch vehicle, replacing its successful predecessor, Ariane 5, which has flown 117 times between 1996 and 2023. The new rocket is distinguished by has a resettable upper stage which allows it to launch multiple missions into different orbits in a single flight.

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said it’s a statement: “Ariane 6 marks a new era of autonomous and versatile European space travel. This powerful rocket is the culmination of many years of dedication and ingenuity of thousands of people across Europe and, when launched, will restore Europe’s independent access to space.”

For the development of Ariane 6, ESA is the launch system architect, working with prime contractor ArianeGroup for the development of the launch vehicle and with CNES for the development of the ground segment. ESA is the operator responsible for the inaugural flight, while for subsequent flights Arianespace is the launch services provider that markets and operates the Ariane 6 launcher for institutional and commercial customers to launch a variety of missions into orbit. At the moment, The rocket already has 30 contracted launch missions, with a second release set for later this year.

With a height of 56 meters, Ariane 6 is a non-reusable launch vehicle that comes in two versions, with a modular design that can be customized: the rocket can use two or four P120C boosters, depending on the mission requirements.

With the different designs, can put a payload of 4,500 kg into a geostationary transfer orbit or 10,300 kg into a low Earth orbit Using the two boosters, and with four lateral boosters, it can launch 11,500 kg into a geostationary transfer orbit and 20,600 kg into a low Earth orbit. The re-ignitable upper stage allows the launch of multiple satellites in a single flight.