What To Know
- In the Jupiter room, the mission control tower located 17 km from the launch pad, the calm of the operators contrasts with the excitement of a flight that has been awaited for four years by the European space industry.
- For this first mission, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), there remains “a degree of risk” despite the numerous ground tests and simulations carried out for months, according to Philippe Baptiste, the head of CNES, the French space agency, who, in unison with those responsible for the flight, nevertheless says he is “confident.
- Eumetsat, the operator of European weather satellites, cancelled the launch of its MTG-S1 satellite planned on Ariane 6 in early 2025 at the end of June in favor of the American SpaceX, citing unspecified “exceptional circumstances”.
In the Jupiter room, the mission control tower located 17 km from the launch pad, the calm of the operators contrasts with the excitement of a flight that has been awaited for four years by the European space industry. “Nominal propulsion, trajectory in line with expectations,” announced the director of operations, Raymond Boyce, before the upper stage was lit up to the applause of the room. For this first mission, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), there remains “a degree of risk” despite the numerous ground tests and simulations carried out for months, according to Philippe Baptiste, the head of CNES, the French space agency, who, in unison with those responsible for the flight, nevertheless says he is “confident.” Historically, nearly half of the first rocket launches in the world have been failures, such as in 1996 for the first Ariane 5, which nevertheless experienced only two failures in 117 launches. The rocket, whose development was four years late, is therefore not carrying commercial satellites but 15micro-satellites from universities and with various experiences. It also carries two atmospheric re-entry capsules that will be released at the end of the mission. These capsules developed by the Franco-German start-up The Exploration Company and Arianegroup must prepare the space freighter that the ESA wants to equip itself with. Decided in 2014, Ariane 6 will be able to place satellites in geostationary orbit, at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers, like Ariane 5, as well as put constellations into orbit a few hundred kilometers from Earth. To do this, the upper stage of the rocket has the relightable Vinci engine, the main innovation of the launcher. During the flight, the Vinci engine must be ignited three times. A first time for 11 minutes and then a second time for 22 seconds to bring the upper stage to the place where it will release the “cubesats”, 1 hour and 6 minutes after take-off. A successful placing of the satellites in orbit allows the launch to be considered a success, explained Toni Tolker-Nielsen, director of space transportation at ESA. But this will only be complete if the upper stage itself does not remain a piece of debris in orbit: the final ignition of the Vinci must send it back into the atmosphere where it will fall back into the Pacific near Point Nemo, the place on the globe furthest from any land.
Ramp up
This Ariane 6 flight is strategic for the Europeans if they want to continue to exist in the face of the American giant SpaceX, which launches its reusable Falcon 9 rockets about twice a week. Since the last Ariane 5 flight a year ago, Europe has no longer been able to put a satellite into orbit by itself: since the invasion of Ukraine, they no longer have access to the Russian Soyuz medium launcher, fired for 10 years from Guyana, and the Vega-C rocket has been grounded since the end of 2022 after an accident. After this first flight, it will take several months to analyze the data transmitted by the launcher’s multiple sensors before a first commercial launch at the end of the year, probably with the French military observation satellite CSO-3. “Today is a very important moment: we are restoring independent access to space for Europe,” rejoiced ESA Director General Joseph Aschbacher. The challenge will then be to”succeed in ramping up” flights, according to Toni Tolker-Nielsen: six are planned for 2025 and eight the following year. Ariane 6 has 29 flights in its order book, an “absolutely unprecedented success for a launcher that has not flown”, recently congratulated Stéphane Israël, head of Arianespace, the company responsible for marketing and operating the rocket. However, the program recently suffered a severe setback: Eumetsat, the operator of European weather satellites, cancelled the launch of its MTG-S1 satellite planned on Ariane 6 in early 2025 at the end of June in favor of the American SpaceX, citing unspecified “exceptional circumstances”. A decision by an intergovernmental body of 30 European countries “difficult to understand”, for ESA boss Joseph Aschacher. For the head of CNES, it is a violation of the principle of European preference. “The necessary measures must be taken to ensure that all European institutional satellites are launched on small and large European launchers,” Philippe Baptiste called.
Satellites put into orbit
“Europe is back”: Ariane 6 put the micro-satellites it was carrying into orbit on Tuesday, marking the success of the inaugural flight of the European rocket and the return of autonomous access to space for Europe, which had been deprived of it for a year. “This is a historic day for ESA and for Europe,” said the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), Joseph Aschbacher, while for his counterpart at the French National Center for Space Studies (CNES), Philippe Baptiste, “Europe is back.” This success marks the return of autonomous access for Europe to space, but it will not be considered complete until the upper stage falls back into the atmosphere as planned, nearly three hours after launch. “The mission is not yet over,” warned Martin Sion, the boss of the manufacturer Arianegroup.
