At the Guiana Space Center, Ariane 6 is taking shape. For his combined essays. Several months before its maiden flight, scheduled for the first half of 2023, teams from ESA, Cnes and ArianeGroup are busy preparing for this test campaign which will last several weeks.
Initially scheduled for 2020, the first flight of Ariane 6 has been postponed to 2023 due to the Covid-19difficulties specific to the development of a new launcher and tests carried out in Lampoldshausen, Germany, and Guiana Space Center which did not go as planned. These repeated delays complicate the planning of future Ariane 6 flights, already busy, especially with the contract Amazon of 18 launches to deploy part of the Kuiper constellation satellites. They also reduce the transition period to just a few weeks with Ariadne 5 whose last flight is scheduled for 2023. It is also possible that Ariane 6 will be ready only after this last flight.
In the meantime, under the responsibility of the European Space Agency (ESA) and carried out by an integrated ESA-ArianeGroup-Cnes team, the tests are continuing at the Guiana Space Center.
An Ariane 6, almost like a “real” takes shape
While Vega C made its first flight, the central body of Ariane 6 (composed of the main stage and the upper stage) was transferred to its launch pad to carry out combined tests there. These tests aim to test all the interfaces and good communications between the Ariane 6 launcher and its launch pad. Also tested are software control bench software, tank filling and emptying operations, essential to guarantee the smooth running of a launch sequence. As it stands, this Ariane 6 obviously cannot fly. The four boosters are not operational. Three are mock-ups, and one is certainly a production example but loaded with inert propellants.
The next step will be the installation of the upper composite, including in particular the fairing and the payload, directly on the central body. Then, after filling the tanks, the Vulcain 2.1 engine of the central body will be put to firethe launch pad serving for the first time as a test bed, of course, without take-off.
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