5 days ago
Europe launches Ariane 6 to send Airbus SE-made satellite into polar orbit
A troubled European rocket critical to the continent's goal of reducing its reliance on Elon Musk's SpaceX thundered off a launchpad for its third-ever mission. Ariane 6's success particularly important to European countries that are seeking to build up their defense portfolio.(X/@esa)
The Ariane 6, which had its debut in July 2024 and is the centerpiece of Europe's space ambitions, lifted off from French Guiana at 8:38 p.m. New York time on Tuesday. The rocket is sending an Airbus SE-made satellite into a polar orbit for weather forecasting and climate monitoring.
The European launch vehicle is one of several new rockets that have fallen behind schedule while SpaceX has increased the frequency of flights by its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, which conducted over half of all global launches last year.
Tuesday's Ariane 6 flight comes on the same day as the scheduled third launch of a new rocket from United Launch Alliance, the joint venture between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. ULA's Vulcan had its debut in January last year but hasn't flown since October due to an issue with the rocket's nozzle.
If successful, the dual missions could signal a break in the launch-services logjam that's complicating plans by governments as well as commercial customers like Inc. and AST SpaceMobile Inc. seeking alternatives to SpaceX as they build out new satellite networks.
'Getting a new rocket off the launchpad the first time is hard but flipping over to production and launch at scale seems to be even harder,' said Clayton Swope, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Four next-generation rockets — Blue Origin's New Glenn and Mitsubishi Heavy's H3 in addition to the Vulcan and the Ariane 6 — had their debuts between January 2024 and January this year, raising hopes that they could help chip away at SpaceX's dominant position in the industry.
However, the new rockets have flown about a dozen times combined. During that same period, SpaceX logged over 100 launches using its Falcon family of rockets.
The Ariane 6 is built by the Airbus SE-Safran SA joint venture ArianeGroup and operated by its Arianespace subsidiary. The success of the rocket is particularly important to European countries that are seeking to build up their defense portfolio, including space-based military capabilities.
The European Union is also working to build a network of low-Earth orbit satellites that can compete with Musk's Starlink service, a project that will require many rides to orbit.
After the Ariane 6's second launch in March, ESA predicted four more flights of the rocket in 2025.
Given the uncertainty about the Ariane 6 and its flight cadence, Europe may still need to use SpaceX for launching some of those projects.
Already, the shortage of European rockets has led ESA to use SpaceX to launch an asteroid mission and deploy satellites.
'There is a preference to launch on European launchers,' said Sylvie Espinasse, head of ESA's office in Washington. 'But when you have a requirement, you have to make your tradeoff. If you need to, you go elsewhere.'
