Developed in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA) and AriaSpace, Ariane 6, the new generation rocket of Europe, performed its first commercial mission successfully. The Ariane 6 rocket was launched from the Kourou Space Base in the French Cause after a launch, which was previously postponed twice due to technical problems. RocketThe Composante Spatiale Optique-3 (CSO-3) of the French Ministry of Defense carried the military surveillance satellite to orbit.
The CSO-3, an advanced surveillance and intelligence satellite of the French Ministry of Defense, will increase France’s military intelligence capacity by creating a mini satellite team with previously launched CSO-1 and CSO-2. Satellite will combine the world surface with high resolution cameras and provide strong intelligence support to its French army and allies.
The launch operation has been postponed many times
Since the retirement of the Ariane 5 rockets in 2023, the independence of Europe in access to space has become very limited, and the war in Ukraine has broken access to Russian Soyuz rockets, and Italy’s Vega C rocket remained passive for two years until last December. Aiane 6 rocket against the US and China’s space technologies is considered a critical step to strengthen Europe’s independence in space. Ariane 6 has a lower cost and more efficient structure than its previous model. European engineers aimed at approaching and even passing the prices offered by SpaceX in the US by reducing modernization and costs with the new generation Ariane 6 rocket. European countries, in response to increasing competition in launching services, reached an agreement on the development of Ariane 6 in 2014, but the launch operation planned to be put into service in 2020 was repeatedly postponed.
Ariane 6, which is part of Europe’s goal of realizing its own space missions independently, is planned to be used in major projects such as Galileo GPS system and Copernicus Environmental Monitoring Program in the coming years.
With Ariane 6, three more launching is planned until next year. The European Space Agency says that this new generation rocket will play an important role in the commercial and military satellite market. (UAV)