Possible launch information from the Ariane 6 rocket, which is very important to Europe’s targets in space, has finally been given. One of the key suppliers of ArianeGroup’s next-generation Ariane 6 rocket appears to have confirmed that the launch system will not take off this year. So we’ll probably have to wait a little longer for Ariane 6 to launch.Target for critical rocket 2024
Executives of German aerospace company OHB predicted during an earnings call on May 10 that the rocket would make its long-delayed first launch in the first months of 2024. Meanwhile, Ariane 6 will be the successor to ArianeGroup’s Ariane 5 rocket, which recently launched the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter JUICE mission.
Last year, ESA announced that it expects the first launch of Ariane 6, planned for 2020, to take place in the fourth quarter of 2023. Now, a critical update to this timeline has come from a third party providing parts for the rocket. “Ariane 6 has not yet been launched, but we hope to launch early next year,” OHB CEO Marco Fuchs said during a presentation on the company’s first quarter financial results.“We are increasingly confident that we will see the first launch of Ariane 6 early next year,” Fuchs said during the interview. used the phrases.
Europe lags behind in the race
Delays in the launch of Ariane 6 show that Europe is clearly lagging behind when it comes to innovation in the space industry. While the Ariane 6 is designed to lower launch costs, it will be an expendable rocket, unlike SpaceX’s fully reusable Starship launch system. So after launch, Ariane 6 will not return to Earth again.
It is intended to be used not only for space, Moon and Mars activities, but also for a satellite constellation project that rivals Ariane 6’s Starlink. The satellite internet project, which the EU calls IRIS², is scheduled to reach full capacity by 2027. Considering that Ariane 6 has not made its first flight, it is obvious that there will be delays in this project of the EU.
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