The European Space Agency and its partners announced the launch date of the first Ariane rocket on July 6-9. ESA announced the launch date on June 5 at the ILA Air Show in Berlin, after announcing last month that the launch would take place in the first two weeks of July. ESA did not release a specific launch time or window for that day’s launch.
“The announcement of the planned date for the first flight of Ariane 6 brings us to the main phase of the launch campaign and we are fully focused on completing the final steps,” said Martin Sion, managing director of ArianeGroup, the rocket’s prime contractor. . says in the statement.
These final steps include a fuel supply check and a practical countdown known as a “wet dress rehearsal” (WDR). ESA announced last month that WDR would take place on June 18 and did not update this schedule in its launch date announcement.
The first launch of Ariane 5 is essentially a demonstration flight. It carries eight cubesats belonging to companies and organizations and five payloads that will remain attached to the upper stage of the rocket. Two capsules designed by ArianeGroup and one designed by The Exploration Company, a European startup that recently won an ESA award for commercial cargo spacecraft, will also be deployed.
The most important part of the launch is the rocket itself. Years behind schedule, Ariane 6 is critical to Europe’s efforts to end the “launcher crisis” that has temporarily left it without independent access to space. This crisis was caused by delays in the launch of Ariane 6 and decommissioning of Ariane 5, as well as the loss of the Soyuz rocket after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and the failure of the Vega C launch in late 2022.
“Ariane 6 marks a new era in autonomous, versatile European space travel,” said ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher. “This powerful rocket is the result of years of dedication and creativity from thousands of people across Europe, and when launched it will restore Europe’s independent access to space.”
In a May 28 interview, Aschbacher said the proficiency check revealed a number of unspecified problems in the launch system that needed to be fixed before launch. “There’s nothing that could cause a stir,” he said, adding that he wasn’t worried about the two-week July launch window.
Arianespace CEO Stephan Israel said in a statement that if the first launch is successful, a second launch would follow before the end of the year: “Once we reach cruise speed, we will continue with a steady increase to around 10 launches per year.” Instead, SpaceX has completed 14 launches of its Falcon 9 rocket in May 2024 alone.
Source: Port Altele
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