![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Ariane-6-small.jpg)
Lengthy delays for the debut of Europe’s future flagship rocket could have an end in sight. During a briefing with press on Thursday, European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher announced that Ariane 6 would have its first launch between mid-June and the tip of July in 2024.
The announcement comes per week after a seven-minute hot fire test of the rocket’s core stage engines in Kourou, French Guiana. The hefty delays to a launch vehicle that was originally alleged to debut in 2020 stem from a mix of “very severe” technical issues and a mismanaged schedule, in line with Aschbacher.
“After I began as DG of ESA some two and a half years ago, I asked immediately for an assessment of the situation on Ariane 6 and it became crystal clear after a couple of months of very intense investigations that the schedule and a few technical issues on Ariane 6 should not in a really good condition,” he said. “That is something that in fact is very disturbing.”
The intention was for the Ariane 6 to start out flying while overlapping the Ariane 5, in order that there could be a smooth transition of launch capabilities, just like what United Launch Alliance is doing with its shift away from its Atlas 5 and Delta 4 Heavy rockets and towards Vulcan.
ESA was hit with a double whammy when its small launch vehicle, Vega C, was grounded late last yr following an anomaly about 150 seconds into flight.
Aschbacher said there have been two important lifelines which might be helping them navigate this European launch “crisis”: working to aggressively book flights on the Ariane 6 and the Vega C through the tip of the last decade and kicking off a launcher challenge to spur the creation of more industrial rockets.
“This looks beyond Ariane 6 and beyond Vega C to create a brand new launcher of the longer term, which in fact will only fly in the following decade,” Aschbacher said.
He pointed to the Ariane 6 Launcher Task Force, which has also helped in steering the ship towards getting the rocket heading in the right direction towards a summer 2024 launch.
Ariane 6’s path to summer 2024 launch
Certainly one of the most important milestones before the Ariane 6 maiden launch was the recent fire test, which happened on Nov. 23 and was designed to cover “the complete core stage flight phase,” in line with the most recent task force summary.
While the burn of the Vulcain 2.1 engine didn’t last the complete, advertised 470 seconds, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, the director of space transportation at ESA, said that they were still in a position to achieve all of their test objectives.
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With that within the rearview mirror, there are two more key milestones on the agenda for the rest of 2023. The primary is targeting Dec. 7 and might be a hot fire test of the Ariane 6’s upper stage engine and the second is the combined test loading (CTLO3) on Dec. 15. That second test, essentially a wet dress rehearsal, will conclude with a brief engine burn.
Assuming each are successful, the ship carrying the components of the Ariane 6 will depart Europe near the tip of January or the start of February, arriving in French Guiana near the tip of February. Following assembly, the rocket would arrive on the launch pad by the tip of April.
Martin Sion, the CEO of AiraneGroup, said if that every one goes well, the test campaign would happen in May and the beginning of June, resulting in the earliest possible launch date of June 15.
Aschbacher said that date is their ideal goal, but they in-built “risk margin” through the tip of July on the off-chance that not all the pieces goes to plan. He said they expect to give you the option to narrow down the date across the March or April timeframe.
“This can be a very complex undertaking to bring a launcher to the launchpad. Literally, it’s rocket science that’s here at stake and subsequently, it’s to be expected that there could also be one or one other delay that may occur,” Aschbacher said. “We are going to proceed our task force meetings towards the maiden flight and as soon as we are able to narrow that down as we progress… we might be in position to repair a date or perhaps its a date plus or minus a couple of days of margin.”
The primary mission’s payloads were announced greater than a yr ago, however the list was updated to incorporate a CubeSat from NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI). The ELaNa 48 (Education Launch of Nanosatellites) mission includes the CURIE (3U) CubeSat.
The CubeSat Radio Interferometry Experiment from University of California at Berkely might be amongst those hitching a ride on this primary flight.
Future outlook
Assuming all the pieces can stay completely or mostly heading in the right direction and a successful summer launch is accomplished, Stéphane Israël, the CEO of Arianespace, said they’re targeting a industrial launch by the tip of 2024.
“We are going to do as many flights as possible in 2025 and we are going to profit from the return on experience of the 2 flights of 2024,” Israël said. “And you realize that on a gentle basis, Ariane 6 would go to nine to 10 flights per yr.”
Several customers are desperate to see the Ariane 6 start flying at a daily clip. Amazon is amongst those counting on the rocket to start out getting a reliable cadence going, because it purchased 18 launches to deploy its Project Kuiper broadband web satellites.
“For years and years, Arianespace has been dedicated on the industrial to the GTO (geostationary orbit) market… and now increasingly, we are going to work for low Earth orbit constellations,” Israël said. “And the great here, and I actually need to insist on that, is the proven fact that Ariane 6 is perfectly adapted to this shift out there.”
The countdown to last week’s #Ariane6 hot-fire test began 24 hours before engine ignition, for seven minutes of fireplace. 🔥
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This #timelapse condenses operations @EuropeSpacePort into just 2 minutes 🤩
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We might be broadcasting next steps for Europe’s rocket on #ESAWebTV today… pic.twitter.com/MlyxUtRxBB— ESA Space Transport (@ESA_transport) November 30, 2023