Late Breaking News 3 - Ariane 6, right first time ! How did we succeed ?

Day: Friday 18 October
Time: 09:00 - 10:00 CEST
Location: Auditorium, Level 3, South Wing, MiCo Convention Centre
The inaugural flight of Ariane 6 that took place on July 9th, 2024 is a great success for Europe, one year after the last flight of Ariane 5.
A completely new rocket launching from a completely new pad is an event happening about every 25 years, a quarter of a century, and thus, success is far from guaranteed.
Ariane 6 made it right first time!
This was not a given... The ESA Director General recalled that inaugural flights statistically have a 47% chance to succeed!
Launch date was announced on May 5th...and everything was perfectly on track 2 months later!
The chronology was conducted on time, with no unforeseen technical events, which is remarkable for such an ambitious project.
The launch system performing wonderfully at the first attempt is a demonstration of European excellence in engineering and technology and a statement to the dedication of European teams.
How did the Space Team Europe reach this historical success? Who was involved and what has been the role of the Ariane 6 task force members (ESA, CNES, ArianeGroup and Arianespace)?
How was the industrial team in 13 countries organized and managed?
What was the secret to a seamless road to success in the last seven months of the program?
Which were the key moments of the developments’ decisions, the incremental improvements, industrial revolution and problem solving that led to this achievement?
It was the first time in decades that an upper stage has been tested on ground in Europe! A re-ignitable upper stage adding high complexity while increasing the flexibility of the system significantly!
Launch pad and launcher first met for combined tests in July 2022 in Kourou, after years of separate development...and matched both hard and software!
After a smooth ignition of the boosters - a common product with the VEGA C rocket burning 142 tons of powder each - and a very successful flight including upper stage re-ignition and up to payload release, the inaugural flight launcher entered an experimental phase pushing the upper stage to its limits to gather as much data as possible and prepare future missions.
The European space industry has now moved into a new era. This development flight permitted to test the new launcher in space and demonstrated that launcher exploitation can start, for all missions to all orbits, including the ability to deploy constellations.
What is coming next?
Versatile, modular and evolutive, the new heavy launcher is starting a new era for European space.
It is only the beginning of Ariane 6’s career.
Next launch is in preparation with Arianespace teams