The largest and most powerful Ariane 6 super rocket developed in Europe took off

Coincidentally, the launch of the largest and most versatile European rocket built to date coincided with the start of the Euro Cup semi-final between Spain and France. Powerful engines of imposing Ariane 6 As the European Space Agency reports, they roared back at 9 pm, an hour later than initially planned, due to “a small problem in data acquisition” detected during “routine rocket preparation operations following the removal of a mobile tower” (ESA).

Fortunately, the incident was resolved and the Ariane 6 – an ambitious program in which 13 countries participate, led by France, which contributes 55% to its development, compared to about 5% for Spain – was finally able to make its inaugural flight. Shortly before, the delicate operation of refueling the super rocket was finished, which consists of pumping 180 tonnes of liquid hydrogen and oxygenA task that took about two hours.

The launch window closes at midnight this Tuesday but there’s no need to rush At exactly 9 am, the engines of the powerful rocket finally roared and a ball of fire crossed the Guyana sky.French. In the next minutes, applause from the control room engineers and the audience signaled the successful separation of the vehicle’s various parts.

The first phase was completed successfully half an hour after the launch but we had to wait for almost an hour to test the new feature. Ariane 6 Which would make it particularly versatile: re-ignition of its upper stagewhich will allow it to launch multiple missions to different orbits in a single flight. This restart of the engines occurs when the ship is about 600 km from the Earth’s surface, lasts 130 seconds and changes the rocket’s orbit from an elliptical orbit to a circular one.

Although the main purpose of this Tuesday’s mission was to test the operation of the rocket, it was also used to put experimental payloads into orbit, including two from Spain., 3CAT-4 meteorological nanosatellite from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), and the RAMI satellite dispenser from the Galician company UARX Space.

In this first flight, the upper stage Ariane 6 It will also release two reentry capsules upon returning to Earth’s atmosphere, where they will burn up without causing damage or space debris.

“It’s not very often that a completely new rocket is launched and its success is never a guarantee. It’s a privilege for me to witness this historic moment in which a new generation of the European launcher family is born Arion “The flight was successful, restoring European access to space,” ESA Director Josef Aschbacher said.

And the success of this mission is in itself more relevant than such a huge project.because it means that Europe finally has its own operational rocket, and with it, it regains its independence in space. An independence that was lost due to a combination of many factors over the past two years.

Approved in 2014, the largest rocket in the European fleet should have become operational in 2020, but delays in its development prevented it from becoming operational. Ariane 6 was ready before the retirement of his predecessor, Ariane 5Which retires in July 2023. Another European rocket crash, Vega-Cwas forced to cancel its launch schedule in December 2022, while Europe could no longer rely on Russian rockets because of the war in Ukraine Union. Lacking its own rockets, there was instead of resorting to rockets Falcon from the American company SpaceX To put strategic missions into orbit, such as two satellites of the Galileo navigation system.

Launch Program Ariane 6 This includes another flight at the end of the year. Four more are scheduled in 2025, eight in 2026 and nine annual launches from next year. It has already committed to 30 launches, which will happen over the next three years if all goes well. They will be both scientific and commercial missions. There are two versions of Ariane 6One 64 metres high with four propulsion engines, and the other 56 metres with two engines.

With just over 55% of the total, France is the country that has contributed the most to the development of Ariane 6, while a total of 13 countries have participated, including Spain with almost 5%.