Ariane 6: Getting ready for inaugural flight

Teams across Europe and at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, have been tirelessly conducting a test campaign that will, in 2024, end with the first launch of Europe’s newest heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6.
In the summer, the mobile gantry was rolled back at the launchpad, revealing the huge rocket to the elements. Then, the main stage’s Vulcain 2.1 engine roared into life in a series of ‘hot fire’ tests for the rocket and entire ground system, including tank filling rehearsals, countdowns, vibration-damping water systems and more.
Tests continued on the upper-stage reignitable Vinci engine and Auxiliary Power Unit at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) test site in Lampoldshausen.
Very soon, tests will be complete, and Europe’s heavy-lift rocket will take flight.
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#ESA #Ariane6 #Rocket

[@Kytetiger]

for those wondering, Ariane 6 is for Heavy-lift and for Geostationary transfer orbit. -Falcon9 could also do it in the coming years- Ariane 6 is not reusable, but ESA is already testing the Themis Project. It's a reusable rocket using Prometheus engine and Callisto launchers. edit: Thank you all for your constructive responses. I'm not a smart enough person I just like to watch stuff about space, but thanks to your kind replies, I understand that I made a mistake. I was excited and wanted only to share information, but the articles that I read were misleading and incorrect on certain points. I mixed up Falcon heavy and Starship. I stand corrected. I did some additional readings, and here is what I understood: Ariane 5 Type: heavy Payload: 21 tonnes for LEO; 10,5t for GTO Ariane 64 Type: Medium to heavy Payload: 21,65t LEO; 11,5t for GTO Falcon 9 block 5 Type: medium (heavy if expendable) Payload expendable: 22,8 tonnes LEO; 8,3t GTO Payload reusable: 17,6t for LEO; 5,5t for GTO Falcon Heavy Type: super heavy Payload expendable: 63,8t for LEO; 26,7t for GTO Payload reusable: 57t for LEO; 10t for GTO Starship Type: super heavy Payload expendable: 250t for LEO; 150t for GTO Payload reusable: 100-150t for LEO; If people more intelligent than me could help me and verify this information.

[@damienspectre4231]

they wont have reusability before 2030s. By then, China and India would also have them beat

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

Falcon 9 "could also do Heavy-lift and Geostationary transfer orbit" in the coming years. LOL !

[@rasimbot]

@@Mr_Friendly_B | Falcon 9 is a heavy-lift vehicle from the very beginning. And it is GTO capable

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

@@rasimbot I know that, I was laughing at the claim that Falcon 9 "could also do it in the coming years".

[@architkumarsingh4547]

Also, Prometheus engine had many successful test. So it's a decent engine. And there are many promising european startups working on reusability.

[@SaneGuyFr]

Amazing rocket, well done esa!

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

Obsolete and uncompetitive rocket, everybody knows it.

[@alanmartin1949]

Get on with it lads - we can't leave it all to SpaceX!

[@MayuriK_it]

Really nice, can't wait to see the launch!

[@ptonpc]

Looking forward to this,

[@user-co8uy5rb2s]

Good luck from the USA, state of Texas.

[@l4bells851]

Lets go ESA 🇦🇹❤️

[@mikebaginy8731]

Exciting!!

[@pranititiwari6525]

Best of luck 🎉

[@edutaimentcartoys]

awesome

[@saidatulshaherawan6617]

All the best 👍

[@uddinislah2724]

Amazing Great We'll Done ESA

[@nico144]

beautiful!

[@filipe5722]

Beautiful to see, we should keep ensuring that Europe does not lose access to space.

[@fabianstriebeck8054]

mega! DLR!

[@mireillefloure]

Merci Milli (⚜)...

[@dissaid]

Yup...😎😎😎

[@Puffye_]

Hope we can get to Ariana 7 soon

[@platin2148]

What customers will it have?

[@SwordQuake2]

Various

[@tecmons]

Amazon Kuiper projet (10 to 18 launcher) , european institutions and probably some private compagnies

[@-SpaceNewsNow-]

Don’t know if you’ll read this, ESA, but when is the launch happening?

[@tecmons]

Summer 2024

[@EnergiaRocket]

Currently planned between 15 june and 30 july.

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

2020.

[@tecmons]

@@Mr_Friendly_B Compared to Japan's H3 launcher, which has fallen even further behind Ariane 6, Arianespace is right on schedule (although H3 has already taken off once, it was a failure).

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

@@tecmons "Right on schedule" for a launcher that was supposed to fly in 2020 ??? 🤣🤣🤣

[@SP95]

🚀 Pour le projet SUSIE

[@TheVantriliquist13]

Dang I got old school Top Gear vibes but for rockets instead of cars lol

[@Puffye_]

It’s time…

[@Glerrrrr]

Esa i know something that no any space thing did send plant seeds to mars and see if its habitable ❤

[@richardbloemenkamp8532]

Competition is hard in the launcher industry since several years. In this case, it may be best to focus on rocket/satellite parts/elements that ESA is really good at and for which the business case is good. The commodities are better bought from commercial parties. Maybe, there is a commercial space for Ariane 6, but I think many people are afraid that this non-reusable technology is coming too late. On the other hand, at this point Ariane 6 is probably close too commercialization, so it may be most economically favorable to quickly finish it and earn some money with it until the reusable launchers completely take over the market. On many fronts ESA is doing really spectacular work, Ariane 6 may be just a little bit less spectacular in the current global space industry.

[@SP95]

Is the ESA a private company ? I don't think so. Ariane is primarily built for institutional missions and satellites rather than servicing private companies therefore its competitiveness barely matters.

[@tecmons]

It's already a miracle to have a working European launcher, when you consider the political carnage involved in deciding on space projects for Europe.

[@richardbloemenkamp8532]

​@@SP95 I think you are a bit mixing up Arianespace SA and ESA. Arianespace SA is competing with Space X, both rely indirectly highly on tax payer money. ESA is the European version of NASA. The following section from Wikipedia is illustrative: "In early 2019, the French "Court of Audit" criticized Arianespace for what it "perceived as an unsustainable and overly cautious response to the swift rise of SpaceX’s affordable and reusable Falcon 9 rocket." The Ariane 6 was found to be uncompetitive with SpaceX launch service provider options, and further found that "the most probable outcome for Ariane 6 is one in which the very existence of the rocket will be predicated upon continual annual subsidies from the European Space Agency (ESA) in order to make up for the rocket’s inability to sustain commercial orders beyond a handful of discounted shoo-in contracts." In other words, Arianespace is not at all in a comfortable position with Ariane 6. Sure ESA will give substantial support to Arianespace, but that support will have its limits.

[@cromefire_]

@@richardbloemenkamp8532 Well I mean technically Arianespace is a private company, but compared to SpaceX it's quite different and Arianespace and ESA collaborate quite closely on these Designs and Arianespace is also more of an industry consortium than a private company. In the end it basically comes down to the mission in the center of all their efforts: ensure Europe's independent access to space (you don't wanna depend on that one maniac billionaire) and building highly reliable rockets while not pissing off politicians, who will shut them down very quickly if anything (let alone 10s of explosions like starship has) were to go wrong. Compare that to SpaceX and NASA, the adequate comparison to something like an Ariane 6 would be the SLS, which is also built by private companies, like Boeing. And against that same clusterf* the Ariane 6 looks pretty good if you ask me...

[@SP95]

​@@richardbloemenkamp8532 Space X's rockets are tailored primarily for NASA's needs and are competing against Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Lockheed Martin, not Arianespace. Here in Europe we don't have anyone on par with Arianespace SA to compete against, and Ariane 6 has been designed following ESA's requirements. Even if Arianespace's products were more "competitive" than their American counterparts, NASA would never contract them. There are only a few exceptions such as the James Webb telescope during the times where NASA was short on solutions and will occur again in 2024 for Galileo with the ESA and SpaceX as Ariane 6 is not yet ready for prime time. As it turned out, competitiveness did not even come to play as Amazon was desperately looking to contract any occidental made rocket available for its fleet.

[@tim_peaky]

We should assemble a big ship in earth orbit and use that as a taxi to the Moon and Mars ESA got to think big and one step ahead

[@sebpatu]

its already in plans, they already talking about space hubs. Moon can also be a great place to assemble launchers with less gravity to fight against.

[@clayel1]

using rocket engines against docked ships is something that has never been done, and would like require wayy more research and development

[@sebpatu]

@@clayel1what you mean by rocket engines against docked ships?? space hubs can be used for assembly, refulling, than you get slightly away from it and starts big engines.

[@clayel1]

@@sebpatu the technology for in-orbit assembly doesnt exist yet

[@sebpatu]

@@clayel1 thats why we are talking about plans for futur

[@gslTM]

Wake up babe the European Space Agency just dropped a new video

[@blitzkrieg1941]

It's been outdated since the Falcon 9 Block 5 in 2018 and the falcon heavy

[@sebpatu]

you know nothing john snow

[@clayel1]

@@sebpatuextra history!

[@coolstorybrooooo7643]

Can it be reused tho

[@philv3941]

not this one, but probably the upper stage of this one ( with "suzie" component) and later, Themis, another first stage, should be reused

[@winstonsmith1457]

We are going to need something similar to Falcon Heavy reusable ASAP to keep being competitive on spatial industry in order to reduce cost. For instance there is a new aerospike concept developed and tested by a barcelonian aerospatial corporation that gets more efficiency with the same quantity of fuel.

[@peterwilles7227]

I dont hold you back to build one😉

[@winstonsmith1457]

@@peterwilles7227 they recently had successfully tested in DLR, Germany, in a little scale. Now it's possible thanks to manufacture It thanks to additive industry. That is not only a theoretical potential possibility for more. Now is closer than ever.

[@plainText384]

Ariane 6 evolutions will feature reusable liquid fueled boosters based on RnD done for the Themis program. These reusable methane+oxygen side boosters would land like Falcon heavy and be a plug and play replacement for the P120C+ SRBs. Additionally, the reusable SUSIE upper stage is being developed for Ariane 64.

[@alfihalma4320]

Nope. Starship is the benchmark they have to deal with. Yes, it's that sad. A6 is not 1 but 2 generations behind...

[@theoschreiner2468]

I am going to mention than designing and building one from right now will take so much time and money, that they should keep on using Ariane 6 as long as they can, especially with future reusability evolutions, they don't need to reinvent the world. They can stay competitive with their reliability and also by the fact that most of the launches from Arianes are European and would chose Ariane anyways.

[@user-pi6ed2sh3y]

Roket satelit sebanyak mungkin ke Dubai UAE tahun 2023 pesan also jarkasi tahun 2023 demi bisnis jasa penyiaran televisi

[@MattiaCeccopieri]

Those poor trees

[@peterwilles7227]

The trees are probaly older as you, and get older to

[@MattiaCeccopieri]

@@peterwilles7227 hope they don't get damaged by the fumes

[@tim_peaky]

The smoke you see is water vapor. That’s why the trees are looking great! 😊

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

@@tim_peaky Can you tell us what will be the composition of the smoke from the boosters?

[@lucaitaly1975]

I am so sad to see this obsolete rocket. The world is changed.

[@ladydustin7811]

People like you always only whine about Ariane 6 being non reusable, but never about the new Vulcan rocket from ULA not being reusable or the new rocket in development at Jaxa not being reusable. These double standards annoy me to no end. Ariane 6 is a good rocket and will do just fine.

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

@@ladydustin7811 This is not a video about ULA's Vulcan or Jaxa's H-3. They all sucks, there is no double standard from us.

[@lucaitaly1975]

@@ladydustin7811 dear lady you are so right, Vulcan is obsolete and Jaxa too. I am European and i am sad about our old tech. Ariane 6 is alive only because Jeff Bezos hasn't a working rocket yet.

[@filipe5722]

@@Mr_Friendly_B There is.

[@philv3941]

and yet the order book is full, just check this and cry.

[@damienspectre4231]

Its NOT reusable. Sorry a decade ago this might have been impressive. Now its just looks inefficient.

[@ladydustin7811]

I know and the Vulcan rocket from ULA is not reusable and the new Jaxarocket is not reusable, but you will never complain about that. It is you guilty pleasure to whine without no end about Ariane 6. What would you do without it.

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

@@ladydustin7811 This is not a video about ULA's Vulcan or Jaxa's H-3. They all sucks, there is no double standard from us.

[@filipe5722]

@@Mr_Friendly_B There is.

[@tecmons]

The esa had already attempted to recover the Ariane 5 booster in the 2000s, but for reasons unknown it did not continue. They are trying to catch up, with projects such as Maia (2025), Themis and Callisto, and the future Prometheus reusable methane boosters.

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

@@filipe5722 No there isn't : Ariane 6, Vulcan and H-3 all sucks because they are already obsolete. Where is the double standard?

[@philippussis_master]

Не вижу разницы между Ариан-6 и Ариан-5. Кроме, понятно, денег. Украли, само собой, больше.

[@tecmons]

Ariane 6 Can launch 10,5 to 21,3 to to the gto orbit Is a bit more capacity, this rocket has also loss expensive (3x less than Ariane 5) , and the delay beetween launches has less important (1 month beetween préparation and launch)

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

@@tecmons 3x less expensive than Ariane 5 ! 🤣🤣🤣 That's why it will need 3x the annual subsidies in order to be "competitive" : €340 million per year for A6 vs €120 million per year for A5.

[@philv3941]

@@Mr_Friendly_B but yet, it will be. The whole design, the simplification of the engines, the made-in-serial components are all designed for cost-killing. But inflation, covid, delays takes money, and explain those extra Euros.

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

@@philv3941 Nobody believe your excuses and nobody seriously believes that Ariane 6 will be cheaper or cost competitive, come on !

[@philv3941]

@@Mr_Friendly_B i know the design, i've seen in what it will be cost effective ( compared to ariane 5 and others non-reusable launchers ) The order book is full, we will see. Ariane is not SpaceX, they have not the nasa money to sacrifice dozains of lauchers to see if it will work. They expect a first launch ok from the start, so the cost could drop quickly

[@mmk-w4901]

2024 only reausibilty is the future...sorry guys

[@benpolgardy9062]

AI narration sucks! Come on, ESA, you can do better!

[@EuropeanSpaceAgency]

Thank you for your comment. This is not an AI voice-over, we only use professionals to do our voice-overs.

[@LPPokefan]

@@EuropeanSpaceAgency Except for the "How Euclid will map the Universe" video...

[@jeanclaudeboutique6526]

La Chine a copier Ariane 5 et ils ont amélioré et bientôt il vont passés a des copies volé de Space X et des falcon9 et revenons a Ariane 6 qui aurais du décollé il y a des années, mais la Russie est parti en guerre et ESA n'était pas les pro des moteurs qui ont été fournis par la Russie. Alors vous croyez vraiment qu'au mois Avril-Mars ils vont faire un vol réussi. J'espère que oui, mais boom boom est plus probable. Et même si une réussite l'Ariane 6 est déjà dépasser et non rentable !!!! Envoyé vos projets pour un décollage en Chine ils vont les copiés et volé votre avancé en spacial et faire mieux après. Envoyé chez vos voisin des USA, oui mais sa va faire sentir comme des looser! Bonne chance ESA lol!

[@sebpatu]

quel moteur était fournis par les russe chez ariane svp?

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

@@sebpatu En fait TOUS les moteurs de la Soyouz.

[@sebpatu]

@@Mr_Friendly_B vu que TOUTE la fusée soyouz est russe ca me parait plutôt normal non?

[@Mr_Friendly_B]

@@sebpatu Ben oui justement, d'où mon étonnement que vous ne sachiez pas que des moteurs russes étaient bel et bien utilisés par Arianespace.

[@sebpatu]

@@Mr_Friendly_B ariane commercialisait les lancement de la fusée russe soyouz a kourou. Elle na pas utilisé de moteurs russes dans ses fusées. Le com ci dessus dit que les moteurs de l esa sont fournis par des russes et que l esa n est " pas pro des.moteurs fournis par les russes" ce qui est n importe quoi. Les moteurs d ariane sont conçus et construits en europe. Vulcain aestus et moteurs a poudre ce qui est une techno maîtrisée par très peu de pays. Et le futur moteur prometheus aussi est francais. Les russes n ont rien a y voir.