It was a take-off that Europeans were waiting for. The Ariane 6 rocket launched into space on Tuesday, July 9, from Kourou in French Guiana. The European launcher took off without a hitch, successfully completing its mission of putting mini-satellites into orbit, in a mission that marks the return of autonomous access to space for Europeans.
4 mins
” This is a historic day for ESA and for Europe “, welcomed the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) Joseph Aschbacher, while for his counterpart at the French National Center for Space Studies (CNES), Philippe Baptiste, ” Europe is back “.
Right on time, the rocket’s two side engines ignited, and Ariane 6 broke away from Earth’s gravity and the Guyanese rainforest to fly off into space.
A relief for Europeans: smiles appeared on the faces of the teams from the European Space Agency, the French CNES and Arianegroup, which manufactures the rocket. After smiles, applause rang out at every step.
The spectators applauded especially when the engine of the rocket’s upper stage was reignited. This re-ignitable engine – one of the main new features of this rocket – should make it possible to place satellites in different orbits, and no longer in a single orbit.
Europe had not had autonomous access to space for almost a year, since Ariane 5 was retired. Because Ariane 6 was not yet ready: the new European rocket was four years behind the initial program.
This first flight was therefore particularly important for the Old ContinentIn the meantime, Europeans have been forced to call on American competitor SpaceX to launch its Galileo satellites, the European GPS.
” A giant step »
Without even waiting for the success of the flight, the head of the American NASA Bill Nelson hailed on X ” A giant step forward for @ESA with the first launch of its powerful new generation rocket “. ” Tonight, after ten years of uncertainty, Europe can say that it continues to play in the court of the great independent powers. “, congratulated the French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire from Toulouse.
Despite the numerous ground tests and simulations carried out over the monthshe remained ” a share of risk ” before the flight, according to Philippe Baptiste, the head of the French space agency.
Historically, nearly half of the world’s first rocket launches have been failures, such as in 1996 for the first Ariane 5, which nevertheless experienced only two failures in 117 launches.
” Ramp up » to face SpaceX
This Ariane 6 flight was strategic for the Europeans if they want to continue to exist in the face of the American giant SpaceX which launches its reusable Falcon 9 rockets approximately twice a week.
Since the last flight of Ariane 5 a year ago, Europeans have not been able to put a satellite into orbit by themselves: since the invasion ofUkrainethey no longer have access to the Russian Soyuz medium launcher, fired for ten years since the Guyanaand the other European rocket Vega-C has been grounded since late 2022 after an accident.
After this first flight, it will take several months to analyze the data transmitted by the launcher’s multiple sensors before a first commercial launch at the end of the year, probably with the French military observation satellite CSO-3.
The challenge will then be to ” succeed in ramping up ” flights, according to Toni Tolker-Nielsen: six are planned for 2025 and eight the following year.
Ariane 6 has 29 flights in its order book, a ” absolutely unprecedented success for a launcher who did not fly “, recently congratulated Stéphane Israël, head of Arianespace, the company responsible for marketing and operating the rocket.
The programme has however recently suffered a severe setback: Eumetsat, the operator of European weather satellites, cancelled at the end of June the launch of its MTG-S1 satellite planned on Ariane 6 in early 2025. This benefited the American SpaceX, citing ” exceptional circumstances » not specified.
A decision by an intergovernmental body of 30 European countries at the expense of the principle of European sovereignty. difficult to understand “, says ESA boss Joseph Aschacher.
Also to read and listen toAriane 6, a rocket to send Europe back into space