ESA Ariane 6

martinbayer said:
I never claimed that it's useless, just a tax payer subsidized technological dead end.
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Why "dead end" ? I mean, sure it's not a fancy landing stuff, but it does the job.
As a European, I'm glad some of the taxes I pay in Europe goes into an uninnovative but working rocket, build in Europe (money and jobs in Europe), that our elected Europeans Governments and institutions have control of for the strategic purpose of having an independent access to space, instead of going in a Space Karen pocket when we need to launch something. We'll see later for the fancy landing spaceships, it will surely come at one point.
But anyways, I don't know much about rockets.
 
Basically, let's them talk and comment and blah blah, and do our best to make it succeed. Arianespace manifest is full with Amazon orders and others for up to 14 launch per year in the coming years, it is 100% European, launched from an European spaceport, has very good capabilities for constellations. All the rest, we don't listen, don't care, don't obey, don't give a hoot.
 
galgot said:
Why "dead end" ? I mean, sure it's not a fancy landing stuff, but it does the job.
As a European, I'm glad some of the taxes I pay in Europe goes into an uninnovative but working rocket, build in Europe (money and jobs in Europe), that our elected Europeans Governments and institutions have control of for the strategic purpose of having an independent access to space, instead of going in a Space Karen pocket when we need to launch something. We'll see later for the fancy landing spaceships, it will surely come at one point.
But anyways, I don't know much about rockets.
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As a German/European citizen, I utterly, robustly support independent EU access to space, but I have been praying at the altar of launch vehicle reusability ever since I became a diplomaed (well, actually, even well before that, but without a diploma) aerospace engineer in the late eighties of the last millennium, and I staunchly believe this is the one and only sane way to go forward (and please note that even a politically disturbed billionaire or two seem to agree with my notion), but then again, living in SoCal as an expat, lI ain't paying any EU taxes, so YMMV.
 
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FighterJock said:
And it did not explode unlike the first Ariane 5 rocke which is excellent news. All Arianespace needs is more customers for Ariane 6 but it might not be easy as was the case with Ariane 5.
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Score one more big fat euro paycheck for the Italian solid rocket racket job.
 
Now that the Ariane 64 variant is operational and at the ESA's spaceport they had the cross of Korolev with the Soyuz (Union) rocket when its' boosters separated, does this mean there's now a cross of Ariane?
 
galgot said:
Why "dead end" ? I mean, sure it's not a fancy landing stuff, but it does the job.
As a European, I'm glad some of the taxes I pay in Europe goes into an uninnovative but working rocket, build in Europe (money and jobs in Europe), that our elected Europeans Governments and institutions have control of for the strategic purpose of having an independent access to space, instead of going in a Space Karen pocket when we need to launch something. We'll see later for the fancy landing spaceships, it will surely come at one point.
But anyways, I don't know much about rockets.
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Europe could have done much better with more moxie. No one at Arianespace really believed reuse was the future outside of SpaceX, or even bothered to hedge their bets. They mocked SpaceX quite a bit back in the day.
 
BlueAbyssal said:
Europe could have done much better with more moxie. No one at Arianespace really believed reuse was the future outside of SpaceX, or even bothered to hedge their bets. They mocked SpaceX quite a bit back in the day.
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This - Spot. On. A plague on all their houses, but especially on you, Italy, with your truly wretched SRB Mafia!
 
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martinbayer said:
This - Spot. On. A plague on all their houses, but especially on you, Italy, with your truly wretched SRB Mafia!
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It’s not as if the Europeans don’t have the technical chops or even the finances. They’ve got both in spades. But if you don’t see something as worth doing… you get Ariane 6. Which, to be fair, is shown in Battlefield 2042 launching satellites for the US, so it outlived everything else in that universe!
 
Even Emmanuel Macron tweeted about this!
https://twitter.com/x/status/2022027397869219902
View: https://twitter.com/emmanuelmacron/status/2022027397869219902

Amazon, your package has been delivered.

Ariane 6 has lifted off for the first time with four boosters, making it our most powerful European launcher!

On board: 32 satellites for Amazon’s constellation. Amazon chose Europe for this major launch.

A French feat, a European success: we’re reaching new heights. Congratulations to the teams.
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galgot said:
Why "dead end" ? I mean, sure it's not a fancy landing stuff, but it does the job.
As a European, I'm glad some of the taxes I pay in Europe goes into an uninnovative but working rocket, build in Europe (money and jobs in Europe), that our elected Europeans Governments and institutions have control of for the strategic purpose of having an independent access to space
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At last--someone gets it.

Wrap-up
https://phys.org/news/2026-02-european-rocket-ariane-maiden.html
Wretched though they may be...maybe they could sell those solids to ULA so's to kick NorGrum to the curb.

It is a lovely rocket. Ariane 4 still my favorite.
 
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https://twitter.com/x/status/2022028156287217817
View: https://twitter.com/Amazonleo/status/2022028156287217817


Deployment confirmed: All 32 Leo satellites have been released from the dispenser system, and Leo flight control teams have taken over spacecraft operations in low Earth orbit.

Thanks to @Arianespace for a successful first launch on Ariane 64!
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https://twitter.com/x/status/2022070589981106420
View: https://twitter.com/Amazonleo/status/2022070589981106420


200+ satellites in low Earth orbit.

All 32 Leo satellites are operating nominally in space, marking a successful start to our LE-01 mission—our first heavy-lift launch to date, and the first of 18 missions with @Arianespace. Another thank you to the entire Arianespace team, and to all of our European partners for supporting our long-term mission for Amazon Leo.
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FighterJock said:
Well done Arianespace for successfully launching the satellites into orbit.
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Oh yes, Arianespace, well done to launch a bunch of dinky Amazon Leo microsatellites on Ariane 64, the most "powerful" version of the anemic Ariane 6 equipped with four "Italian" SRBs. Arianespace is a global laughingstock these days - it can't even get a *single* ESA astronaut to LEO...
 
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https://twitter.com/x/status/2041928422243377218
View: https://twitter.com/Arianespace/status/2041928422243377218

Mission VA268: Ariane 6 has reached the launch pad.

At Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, the central core of Ariane 6 for mission VA268 has been transferred from the Launcher Integration Building (BAL) to the launch pad.

Once in front of the mobile gantry, the stage was raised to a vertical position, a key milestone in the launcher assembly process.

This operation initiates the final assembly phase on the pad, where Ariane 64, the most powerful version of Ariane 6, will progressively come together.

Scheduled for April 28, 2026, mission VA268 will place 32 @Amazonleo satellites into low Earth orbit, demonstrating once again Ariane 6's capability to support large-scale constellation deployments.

The campaign is underway.

#LaunchingAmbitions
@Amazonleo @ArianeGroup @esa @CNES @EuropeSpacePort
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Are there any videos showing clearly from the ground the four SRBs separating?
 
Do we have a date for the next launch ?
It should be early june, first Ariane 64 Block 2 launch for Amazon LEO (36 sats)

As an aside, I get the feeling that Amazon could end up ordering more than the 18 launches currently planned...
 
No specific date that I can find, just June 2026 for Leo. Maybe Amazon will order more launches from Arianespace, but given their recent moves I’d bet they’ll buy from SpaceX first.
 
With Atlas V on the way out plus New Glenn and Vulcan down, does this makes Ariane 6 the savior of Amazon LEO / Kuiper ?
 
Archibald: unlikely unless Arianespace can significantly ramp up production. While Arianespace plans another sixteen Leo flights through 2027 (thus resulting in 576 more satellites on orbit if they all flew), I'm skeptical they will actually launch Ariane 6 a dozen times next year. I'll be pleased if I'm wrong, I'm just dubious. That plus the satellites in space now leaves Amazon 2.356 satellites short of their present goal, and is well under the 1,618 they need by July according to their license (yes, I'm sure they'll get a waiver, and yes, I know I'm not accounting for the 240 satellites SpaceX will launch for Amazon this year, the 29 satellites ULA is supposed to launch tonight, the 40 they're planning to loft in September on Vulcan, etc.).
 
I think they'll probably add launches in 2028-29.
btw, the director of space transport at ESA said recently on French tv that Ariane 6 is now targeting 15 launches per year.
 
That's all well and good, but I'll believe it when I see it. Their best year ever is comparable to a single month of SpaceX launches, so they've got a lot of catching up to do. While Amazon hasn't made the terms of their contracts with Arianespace and SpaceX clear, using conservative assumptions on price, and the declared payloads for both (24 satellites per F9, and 36 per A64), it's cheaper to keep launching their constellation with SpaceX, albeit only by about $100,000 per satellite. SpaceX can certainly make more capacity available to Amazon if they so choose than Arianespace has available, and many of the upcoming Ariane launches are for other buyers.
 
Titus K said:
Do we have a date for the next launch ?
It should be early june, first Ariane 64 Block 2 launch for Amazon LEO (36 sats)

As an aside, I get the feeling that Amazon could end up ordering more than the 18 launches currently planned...
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17th June.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2062566694598365204
View: https://twitter.com/arianespace/status/2062566694598365204

What's new on #VA269?
For the first time, Ariane 64 will fly with four P160C boosters.

+1 meter longer than P120C
156 tonnes of propellant

The most powerful Ariane 6 configuration ever launched.

#LaunchingAmbitions #Ariane6 #VA269
@Amazonleo @ArianeGroup @esa @CNES @EuropeSpacePort
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Mark your calendars.

On June 17th, Ariane 64 will launch 36 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit.

This will be the first Ariane 6 flight equipped with four P160C boosters, increasing its payload capacity from 32 to 36 satellites on a single launch.

Launch window:
- 07:53 - 08:22 (Washington, D.C.)
- 08:53 - 09:22 (Kourou Time)
- 11:53 – 12:22 (UTC)
- 13:53 - 14:22 (Paris time)

#LaunchingAmbitions #Ariane6 #VA269@Amazonleo @ArianeGroup @esa @CNES @EuropeSpacePort
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https://twitter.com/x/status/2062901209581736349
View: https://twitter.com/Arianespace/status/2062901209581736349
 
Sounds like Arianespace can expect more contracts from Amazon LEO.

Among the large new rockets Amazon was counting on, only Europe has delivered

Amazon now has hundreds of flight-ready satellites standing idle in Florida, waiting to join the company’s low-Earth orbit Internet constellation, an Amazon official said Tuesday.

“They’re built, and sitting in a payload processing facility waiting for trips to orbit,” said Steve Metayer, vice president of Amazon Leo Production Operations, during a teleconference with reporters. “And we’re currently manufacturing several satellites a day.”
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…

“As for Arianespace, they have definitely stepped up,” Metayer said. “They’re very reliable on their manifest dates, and they’re very reliable and safe on their insertions into orbit. So we definitely would continue to look forward to the next 16 launches with them on our existing contract, and we see them being a player long-term beyond that.”
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It’s possible. It will take quite a while to actually loft them into orbit, so Arianespace now has the challenge of dramatically accelerating their launch rate to meet Amazon’s needs.
 

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