Europe’s workhorse rocket has flown for the ultimate time.
The powerful Ariane 5 launched today (July 5) on the last-ever mission of its storied profession, which began way back in 1996 and now includes 117 orbital liftoffs.
Today’s mission began at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT), when the Ariane 5 launched from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. About 2.5 minutes into flight, the vehicle’s 103-foot tall (31.6 meters) solid rocket boosters separated from the core stage, whose single engine continued burning, carrying the mission’s two satellites skyward.
The core stage shut down around nine minutes after liftoff, and the upper stage separated and commenced its own burn. Roughly half-hour into flight, the primary satellite, called Heinrich-Hertz, was released into geostationary transfer orbit high above Earth. About three minutes later, the second payload, often called Syracuse 4B, followed suit.
“Ariane 5 has perfectly finished its work,” Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace, the France-based company that operated the rocket, said on today’s launch webcast shortly after that second deployment. “It’s really now a legendary launcher.”
Heinrich-Hertz is an experimental communications satellite that can test latest hardware and function a test platform for university and public sector scientific and technical experiments.
Its mission will probably be managed by the German space agency, known by the acronym DLR. Heinrich-Hertz is the primary German satellite dedicated to such technology demonstration and communications research.
Syracuse 4B is joining its predecessor, Syracuse 4A, which launched in 2021. The pair were built for the French government by Airbus Defence and Space, and are replacing the Syracuse satellites 3A and 3B as military communication relays.
Each Heinrich-Hertz and Syracuse 4B are headed for geostationary orbit, which lies about 22,200 miles (35,800 kilometers) above Earth. They’ll get there by performing a series of engine burns.
Today’s flight ended a virtually 30-year operational profession for the Ariane 5, which out-launched the 4 other Ariane rockets that got here before it.
“Ariane 5 leaves behind an incredible legacy of technical prowess and reliability,” a spokesperson for the European Space Agency (ESA) told Space.com. “During its operational lifetime, Ariane 5 has been a significant asset for Europe to make sure its autonomous access to space.”
The 2-stage rocket was operated by Arianespace for ESA and CNES, the French space agency, and was built by Airbus Defence and Space. The Ariane 5 has undergone a handful of upgrades and has flown in five different configurations. Essentially the most recent versions, the Ariane 5 EC/A and ES, began operation in 2009. The predecessor design, the Ariane G5, launched from 2005 to 2009, after succeeding the short-lived G+ version, which launched three missions in 2004, and the premiere Ariane 5 G prior to that.
Ariane 5 first launched in 1996 but failed to succeed in orbit on that debut, initiating an auto-destruct abort mid-flight. After that initial failure, the rocket became certainly one of the world’s most reliable launchers. Of Ariane 5’s 117 missions and 239 payloads delivered to orbit, the launch vehicle has performed at a 96% success rate, in keeping with ESA.
Development of the Ariane 5’s alternative, the Ariane 6, has been proceeding for greater than a decade. “Ariane 6 is a brand new launcher system, which will probably be more flexible, cost-efficient and serve more varieties of launches in comparison with Ariane 5,” said an ESA representative. Europe’s latest rocket will probably be designed to fly in two configurations, A62 and A64, which carry two and 4 solid rocket boosters, respectively.
The brand new heavy lifter was originally expected to debut in 2020, but setbacks have repeatedly pushed that focus on down the calendar. Ariane 6 is now expected to launch no sooner than late 2023, leaving Europe with a spot of launch options until it’s ready.
“Where crucial, alternative launcher options have been investigated and evaluated by ESA from a technical, schedule and security standpoint to make sure the continuity of service of European programs,” said an ESA official. In April, it was reported that the European Commission was exploring the potential of launching a number of the European Union’s Galileo navigation satellites using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket slightly than wait for the Ariane 6 to return online.
“ESA and its partners are working relentlessly to secure rapidly and reliably the inaugural flight of Ariane 6, which stays the popular launch option for European mission requiring a heavy launch vehicle,” said an agency spokesperson.
Today’s Ariane 5 swan song originally scheduled for June 16 but was scrubbed the day before on account of issues with the solid rocket boosters’ pyrotechnical transmission lines. The following planned attempt, on Tuesday (July 4), was nixed by bad weather.