Artistic depiction of the Ariane 6 rocket
ESA-D. Duclos
What is Ariane 6?
Ariane 6 is the latest model in the Ariane series of European satellite launch vehicles. The project dates back to a proposal in 1973, with the first flight of the Ariane 1 rocket taking place just six years later in 1979.
The last to be launched was Ariane 5, which completed 112 successful missions out of 117 launches, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, but was retired last year to make way for Ariane 6, which was expected to have lower launch costs.
The loss of Ariane 5 and the European Space Agency's (ESA) decision to cut ties with the Russian space agency Roscosmos following Russia's invasion of Ukraine temporarily left Europe without a direct means of launching satellites and forced it to turn to the commercial sector.
The ultimate idea is to not just take on all of these government launches in the future, but also offer its own commercial launch services — it's already received a launch order from Amazon. Kuiper Internet Satellite.
How big is Ariane 6?
The Ariane 6 is 63 meters tall and 5.4 meters in diameter, and can launch up to 21,650 kilograms of cargo into low Earth orbit. While that's less than the payloads of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), China's Long March 10, or SpaceX's Starship, it can still put a variety of satellites into orbit, including spy, weather, and global positioning satellites.
Ariane 6's main advantage isn't its payload, but its low cost and ease of construction: Aerospace company Arianegroup designed it to be easier and quicker to build and launch than its predecessor, allowing ESA to launch it once a month if necessary.
The rocket was originally scheduled to launch in 2020 but has been postponed multiple times. Those delays, along with the falling cost of reusable rockets operated by SpaceX, have led Europe to look elsewhere for launch capacity. The European Agency for the Exploration of Meteorological Satellites recently said: Launch contract awarded to SpaceX Rather than opting for Ariane 6, the European contract was signed last year. Galileo navigation satellite in orbit I also went to SpaceX.
When is the Ariane 6 launch and how can I watch it?
The launch from ESA's facility in French Guiana is scheduled for 7pm-11pm BST on July 9. ESA said Live broadcast of the launchThe event will begin 30 minutes before the launch and will be available to watch via streaming. News Scientist.
What happens during launch?
Ariane 6 will be launched using a Vulcan 2.1 main engine and two expendable boosters. These will drop in the same way as the first stage, after which the Vinci engines of the upper stage will launch it into an elliptical orbit measuring 300 by 700 kilometers above Earth. The Vinci engines will then reignite to put the upper stage into a circular orbit, after which Ariane will release its eight satellites and the upper stage will burn up in the atmosphere. Two small re-entry capsules will return it safely to Earth.
What comes next for Ariane 6?
A successor to Ariane 6 is already in development and will break the sequential rocket numbering system. Known as ArianeNext, it will be a reusable rocket similar to SpaceX's Starship and is scheduled to launch in the 2030s.
A major criticism of Ariane 6 is that it cannot be reused, a feature pioneered by SpaceX and already being developed by several other companies, and will likely not be resolved in Europe until Next begins operations.
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Source: www.newscientist.com
