back to article First Ariane 6 rocket ready to assemble as Europe begins final countdown

The European Space Agency is ready to put together the first Ariane 6 rocket, and has declared the campaign to get it into orbit is under way. A Friday post from the agency revealed that the central core and boosters of the first Ariane 6 are now on the launchpad at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The core made …

  1. edjimf

    Got that song going round and round in my head now, thanks...

    1. doublerot13

      I'm thinking of when I used to have hair like them. Hair like anyone really..

      1. FrogsAndChips Silver badge

        Will things ever be the same again?

  2. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

    That booster looks wonky there on its own without the core...

  3. HuBo Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Great news!

    Hopefully this will be another positive step in the direction of freeing ourselves from reliance on Roscosmos and its shenanigans.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Great news!

      They could have done that long ago by using SpaceX, and for a lot less money. The real issue will be will the Ariane 6 have any customers besides those required by their governments to use it?

      1. Charlie Clark Silver badge
        Stop

        Re: Great news!

        Yes, because Mr Musk has demonstrated what a reliable guy he is… If things go accordingly to plan there should be sufficient demand for Ariane, though maybe not in LEO, where everybody wants to be until this gets properly regulated.

        New launch capacity will be coming form India, China and elsewhere so it will be possible to have multiple suppliers again.

      2. Gene Cash Silver badge

        Re: Great news!

        They are launching on Falcon 9s, but they just are not saying so.

        Falcon 9 launches Galileo navigation satellites https://spacenews.com/falcon-9-launches-galileo-navigation-satellites/

        Neither the European Commission nor the European Space Agency publicized the launch in advance. In statements after the successful launch, European officials studiously avoided mentioning how the satellites were launched.

        “2 new Galileo satellites successfully launched last night,” Thierry Breton, EU commissioner for the internal market, posted on social media April 28. “Awaiting Ariane6, the 2024 launches are crucial for Galileo’s resilience, robustness and continuity of its civilian & military applications.”

        That statement came the closest to acknowledging why the satellites were launching on Falcon 9. The retirement of the Ariane 5, loss of access to the Soyuz rocket after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago and delays in the introduction of the Ariane 6 left Europe without its own means of launching Galileo satellites, a situation dubbed a “launcher crisis” by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher.

  4. Red Ted
    Coat

    Why so late?

    It's not like it's.... oh, wait, it is.

  5. Jonathon Green
    Go

    Presumably not heading for Venus right away…

    1. Jimmy2Cows Silver badge

      Standing tall, though.

  6. StrangerHereMyself Silver badge

    Rehashed

    The Ariane 6 is basically a rehashed Ariane 5 with the launch price cut in half to disguise the enormous profit taking and inefficiency of the Ariane program. I'm absolutely stunned it took them this long to get it to fly.

    When Germany finally starts to fly its own rockets we'll see the wheels coming off the Ariane program and ESA members each going their own way. Hell, even the UK has some skin in this game with the Cornwall Spaceport and the Orbex small launcher company.

    1. Wingnut29

      Re: Rehashed

      you're a tad out of date/incorrect there.

      cornwall was a runway before VO went into administration and orbex is a vertical launcher only capable of 250kg to polar orbit from scotland, when they get round to launching anything more than they're pr pyschobable. rfa (aka 'the germans') will launch upto 1.5t from shetland but they will max out at 4t to leo from norway, so hardly in competition with ariane 6.

      apples and boiled sweets as they say...

      1. MachDiamond Silver badge

        Re: Rehashed

        "cornwall was a runway before VO went into administration"

        The Virgin Orbit 747 has been repainted, had the rocket mount removed and it sitting at the Mojave Air and Space port with Stratolaunch livery on it now. Stratosaurus Rex/Birdzilla may wind up parked and the Talon hypersonic craft mated to the 747 instead.

    2. StrangerHereMyself Silver badge

      Re: Rehashed

      Launchers tend to grow once the company has demonstrated its capabilities. Rocket Lab for example is building a Falcon 9 class vehicle as we speak.

      I'm pretty sure Orbex and RFA will move towards larger, reusable rockets once they get their small launchers into orbit. Likely both rockets will benefit from government support since space is very much a flag-waving thing.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like