Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), told IFLScience about the future heavy rocket Ariane 6, which is expected to make its first flight in the summer of 2024.

The Ariane 6 launch vehicle will replace Ariane 5, which was ESA’s primary launch vehicle from 1996 to 2023. Although the new rocket is longer than the previous one, it is much lighter, and according to Aschbacher, the cost of launching the Ariane 6 rocket into space will be half as much as the Ariane 5. At the same time, the head of ESA states that Ariane 6 cannot be reused like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. However, the Ariane 6’s advantage lies in its cargo capacity. The launch vehicle will be able to carry more payload into space than Falcon Heavy. The Ariane 6 rocket is being developed in two versions: with two and four boosters.

According to the plans of the European Space Agency, Ariane 6 will be able to send various scientific missions into space; among them will be the PLATO observatory (search for exoplanets, launch will take place in 2026), ARIEL observatory (space study study). atmospheres of approximately 1000 known exoplanets). discovery of a new interstellar comet), the LISA mission (the first detector of gravitational waves in space) and the ATHENA telescope (successor to modern X-ray observatories).