Engineers and managers monitor the parameters of the Ariane 6 launch in The Jupiter Room at The Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, July 9, 2024.
Even louder applause came a little over an hour later, when the rocket successfully delivered microsatellites into orbit.
NASA chief Bill Nelson on X welcomed the “giant leap forward” for the ESA.
But Martin Sion, the CEO of the rocket’s manufacturer ArianeGroup, emphasized that “the mission is not yet complete.”
It will only be fully completed when the reusable Vinci engine in the rocket’s upper stage has fallen back into Earth’s atmosphere.
This is expected around three hours after liftoff.
Since the last flight of its workhorse predecessor, Ariane 5, a year ago, Europe has had to rely on rivals such as Elon Musk’s U.S. firm SpaceX.
Ariane 6 will be able to place satellites in geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers (22,369.36 miles) above Earth, as well as satellite constellations a few hundreds of kilometers up.
The first flight was carrying a payload of university microsatellites, various experiments and two atmospheric re-entry capsules that will be jettisoned near the end of the mission.
The last of three ignitions of the Vinci engine will be to shoot the Vinci engine back down into the Pacific Ocean, so it does not contribute to the space debris cluttering Earth’s orbit.
After months of analyzing the rocket’s inaugural launch, a first commercial flight is expected before the end of the year.
The next challenge will be to “successfully ramp up” the number of flights, ESA space transportation director Toni Tolker-Nielsen said.
Six launches are scheduled for next year, and eight for 2026.
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Publish date : 2024-07-10 00:30:23
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