Wouldn't this dump spent stages on Greenland ? or worse, on Iceland ? (although it is a rather small "target")

As for Azores : same story with Africa, no ?
if you launch from mainland Portugal south like Vandenberg, no problem
from Azores launch like the from Kennedy space center east, it goes over Sahara desert, its population almost zero.
the french dit this with Diamant A launches too
 
EUROSEC Space Exploration Complex, here we come ;)!

to put in Context
2113687660_daedf444b3_b.jpg

from this movie...
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAEBZjVRbAc
 
The 1st and 2nd stages for the maiden Ariane 6 flight have come together. Once the integration process is complete, the stacked rocket will be transferred to the Mobile Gantry and lifted into a vertical position. Credit: ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE-ArianeGroup / Optique vidéo du CSG

I assume that the SRBs have already been stacked on the MLP?
 
France finance €400 million to four private launch startups.
HyPrSpace, Latitude, Sirius Space Services, and MaiaSpace. (subsidiary of ArianeGroup)

 
Notice the Boudoir type of fund allocation that will plague France access to space as much surely that it did in the 1950s with the frenzy of gov financed prototypes that led to nothing.
Was there any RFI, RFP? No. Too much cliché, I guess.
 
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Taranis (shape 1.1) I suppose? Aerospatiale, Piggyback & External tanks. Reminscent of some of the shuttle studies.
1713973552871.png
ESA shouldn't have cancelled the Hermes spaceplane.

Sadly, Hermes wouldn't have gotten us a Reusable Launch Vehicle.
It probably would have lengthened Ariane 5's operational life, for better and worse.
 
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For those who may be unfamiliar with those Ariane 6 incarnations, some background can be found below:

Note that the two concepts shown in Barrington Bond's post were developed as part of the FESTIP program, FLTP was the follow up program that began in 1999.
Aerospatiale didn't take part in the ESA-funded FESTIP (which started in 1994), nor did France in official capacity (CNES, although Dassault and other subcontractors did,), FESTIP was more German than French, with DASA in a leading role.
1713998475687.png
Taranis was an early (late 80s to early 90s) self-funded study by Aérospatiale.
It followed and was concurrent to the CNES-funded Dassault Star-H and Aérospatiale STS 2000 studies.
Compared to the STS 2000 studies, it didn't have any airbreathing propulsion, it started in a "stacked" position (Orbiter on top of first stage, like Starship), before moving the orbiter to a piggyback position ("shape 1.1") then ended with the orbiter on the belly of the S1. The first stage was "transatlantic", with landing in Dakar, Bermuda or the Azores, FESTIP's "Hopper" (which gave EADS's Phoenix) would also use this first stage trajectory.
It was under the direction of H.Lacaze, Hermes director at Aerospatiale.
 
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Yet more money from the European taxpayer for the Ariane 6.

In late 2023, ESA approved another €210 million a year in subsidies for the operation of Ariane 6. With the increase, ArianeGroup will now receive €350 million per year from the European taxpayer to ensure the company can offer a competitive product.
 
Hardly surprising about the Galileo launch on the Falcon 9, they should have been launched on the Ariane 6 after the first test launch, the longer the Ariane 6 takes to fully enter service the worst it will get for Arianespace to find new customers.
 
For those who may be unfamiliar with those Ariane 6 incarnations, some background can be found below:

Note that the two concepts shown in Barrington Bond's post were developed as part of the FESTIP program, FLTP was the follow up program that began in 1999.
Having been a member of the FESTIP study team who was in charge of the rocket propelled near-Bimese FSSC-16 VTHL-TSTO, see e.g. https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/french-secret-projects-3.29611/page-3#post-534350, I have to tell you that this statement is plain wrong. France never was an official participant in FESTIP, and there was no Aerospatiale involvement whatsoever. The RLV design shown in Barrington Bond's post was a purely French concept.
 

EUSPA contracted Arianespace for the first two launches of 2*2 New Generation Galileo satellites in 2026 and 2027 on Ariane 6.

This puts to 30 the current Ariane 6 Backlog (+maiden launch), 5 of which are for EUSPA Galileo launches.
 
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That is much better news TheKutKu. Two Gallileo launches in 2026 and 2027 on Ariane 6. A long time coming after all the delays to the program.
 
The ESA has just put out this video concerning the upcoming Ariane 6 first flight:


Last week, Ariane 6’s central core – the main body of the rocket – was stood tall at the launch zone and connected to its two solid-fuel boosters. This exciting moment means only one thing: it’s the start of the first launch campaign.
The main stage and upper stage make up the core stage, and they were autonomously driven at 3 km/h from the rocket assembly building to the launch pad, 800 m away. Then lifted by a crane, the Ariane 6 core was stood upright on the launch table.
The two boosters were transported to the launch pad on a specially designed truck and then configured with the rocket body, now holding it upright.
Ariane 6 is due to launch in summer 2024. The heavy-lift rocket will inaugurate a new era of autonomous European space transportation, powering Europe into space to realise its ambitions on the world stage. It will lift off from a modern launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying with it not just a variety of spacecraft, but also European goals for prosperity and autonomy.
Credits: ESA - European Space Agency
 
Hydrolox rocket propelled throwaway two stage dildo 2.0 with even more wretched strap on solid rocket mafia boosters. For shame, ESA... It's moments like this that *almost* make me consider giving up my green card and becoming a US citizen, but then there's the local/national nightly news...
 
At last Ariane 6 is nearly ready to launch, fingers and toes firmly crossed everything goes according to plan and it does not explode unlike the first Ariane 5.
 
EUMETSAT wanted an A64 on the third launch- but it had been decided since at least the first half of 2023 that the first 4-5 launches of A6 would be A62, it is likely their decision to drop A6 had already been taken for over a year
I realize this is stating the blindingly obvious, but unsurprisingly good(?) old Arianespace is being rightfully crushed by SpaceX, and my best guess is they will wither away rather than thoroughly innovate - gee, if there had only been a pan-european effort to vigorously revolutionize launch vehicle architectures some quarter century ago like oh say FESTIP...
 
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Taranis (shape 1.1) I suppose? Aerospatiale, Piggyback & External tanks. Reminscent of some of the shuttle studies.
View attachment 726725


Sadly, Hermes wouldn't have gotten us a Reusable Launch Vehicle.
It probably would have lengthened Ariane 5's operational life, for better and worse.
That's close to Spaceliner
 
EUMETSAT wanted an A64 on the third launch- but it had been decided since at least the first half of 2023 that the first 4-5 launches of A6 would be A62, it is likely their decision to drop A6 had already been taken for over a year
They also likely didn't want to be the first A64 flight.
I realize this is stating the blindingly obvious, but unsurprisingly good(?) old Arianespace is being rightfully crushed by SpaceX, and my best guess is they will wither away rather than thoroughly innovate - gee, if there had only been a pan-european effort to vigorously revolutionize launch vehicle architectures some quarter century ago like oh say FESTIP...
Hopefully the firms like RFA, HyImpulse, etc. will be more flexible and speedy.
 
HERMES would have been a stunt vehicle to give European astronauts bragging rights, but nothing else.
 
Question: is any of this Hardware build and tested or ready ?
Prometheus Engine
Callisto suborbital test vehicle
Ariane 6 upper stage Icarus
Themis reusable Rocket demonstrator
GRm7eYhXMAA4i2i
 
Arianespace and ESA
have put Real sized Ariane 6 Rocket model
on Trocadero in Paris, for Olympics.
Seems they looking for new clients...

View: https://twitter.com/ArianeGroup/status/1808909356252942510


Ariane Next looks interesting Michel Van, is there any information about it at this stage or is it too early?
too early, various study mostly Methalox Engine and reusable
but last word in this are from sam persons who gave us Ariane 6...
 
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