The Ariane 6 rocket blasted off from the French Guiana Kourou on July 9
A new European heavy-lift launch vehicle was launched for the first time in years, this is expected to resolve the region’s crisis in the ability to deploy indigenous satellites into orbit.
At about 4 p.m. local time on July 9, the Ariane 6 lifted off from a launch pad near Kourou, a clear sky French Guiana. The launch, which had been delayed for four years, was heavily subsidised to ensure it could compete with the rocket from SpaceX.
The European Space Agency Ariane 6 rocket launched into orbit on its first flight Sunday, completing most of its scheduled mission, The Times reported on its website. But about two hours and 50 minutes into the flight, officials announced that an”Anomaly” had occurred, with the ignition of one engine stopping prematurely and the last payload failing to deploy successfully.
Although Tuesday’s mission did not go exactly as planned, the European Space Agency hopes the Ariane 6 rocket system will continue to develop and make the European Space Agency more self-reliant, it even challenges SpaceX’s dominance of the global satellite launch market.
According to a report on the website of Spanish newspaper El Pais, Europe has successfully launched the Ariane 6 rocket, it is the largest and most powerful rocket ever developed by a 22-nation European Space Agency that includes Spain. The rocket is the height of an 18-story building and weighs more than 500 tons.
“We have made European history,” European Space Agency director Joseph Aschbach told Social Media Platform X. “This is a great success for European Space,” the European Commission Thierry Breton celebrated before the launch, “And it is an important milestone for our space independence.”
The biggest drawback to this great European rocket is that it is only suitable for launching satellites and robotic space exploration missions. Europe’s great weakness remains its inability to send astronauts into space, particularly to the moon and beyond, and it remains entirely dependent on its allies for that.
The Ariane 6 rocket is a major European project, according to the website of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. As well as the manufacturer Ariane, the paris-based European Space Agency and national space agencies, about 13,000 people from 13 countries are involved in its research, development and production.
The Ariane 6 rocket will launch satellites into space for public and commercial customers. Its first launch carried nearly 20″Passengers”: Microsatellites provided by universities and scientific institutions, several of them from Germany. Against this backdrop, Martin Syon, president of manufacturer Ariane, called the first flight of the Ariane 6″A symbolic European moment”.
The Ariane 6 is a successor to the 5 and costs less. The type 5 rocket was used until 2023 summer in 1996.
The Ariane 6 rocket marks a new era of autonomous and multi-purpose space European Space Agency, said Ashbacher. The rocket can put satellites into different orbits. It can be equipped with two or four boosters, a total mass of 11.5 tons of geosynchronous satellites into space, or a total mass of 21.6 tons of satellites into low Earth orbit.
The first flight of the Ariane 6 was planned for 2020 but has been repeatedly delayed due to technical problems and the covid-19 pandemic. The European Space Agency now plans to use the rocket until at least the mid-2030s. The rocket will make its first commercial launch this year and will be launched at least nine times a year.