The launch of Ariane 6, scheduled for Tuesday evening, July 9 from Kourou, is crucial for Europe in order to catch up with the United States, and more particularly SpaceX.
While China has landed on the far side of the Moon, and SpaceX is carrying out an average of two launches per week, Europe has only carried out… three space missions in 2023! This shows the stakes that accompany the planned takeoff ofAriane 6 July 9. The launch window is scheduled for late evening French time, and all eyes will be on Kourou, in Guyana, from where the new European rocket is due to take off.
As its name suggests, Ariane 6 is the successor to the highly successful Ariane 5, with the aim of catching up with the United States, and above all, making up for lost time since the development of Ariane 6 began in 2014! The aim, as with NASA, is to reduce launch costs while increasing flexibility and reliability.
Two versions are thus proposed: Ariane 62, equipped with two lateral thrusters like the Russian Soyuz, and Ariane 64, which has four like Ariane 5. This modularity will allow Ariane 6 to meet various mission needs, ranging from the launch of small satellites in constellation to that of heavy loads for interplanetary missions.
Since the development of the rocket began, the market for space launchers has become extremely competitive, with the emergence of new players such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its reusable Falcon 9 rocket, but also new countries such as India, China and Japan. With Ariane 6, Europe has no choice: it must offer competitive launch costs to maintain Europe’s position on the global market for commercial satellites. All this while adapting to the customer with missions in low orbit, geostationary orbit, or beyond.
By having its own launcher, Europe ensures its independence in access to space. This is crucial for strategic applications such as telecommunications, satellite navigation (Galileo), and Earth observation (Copernicus). On the technological level, Ariane 6 intends to regain control with its Vulcain 2.1 engines for the first stage and Vinci for the second.
It is easy to understand why this first flight is so eagerly awaited, but also so crucial for the future of the European space program. A successful launch will demonstrate Europe’s ability to innovate and remain competitive against aggressive competitors. In addition, it will pave the way for more ambitious missions, including potential contributions to future lunar or Martian missions, in partnership with other space agencies such as NASA or Jaxa, the Japanese space agency. ArianeGroup has already supplied many components of the Orion spacecraft’s propulsion system for the Artemis III mission, which is to send men to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. This will be for September 2026 if all goes well.