Kourou – European space experts consider the initial flight of the new Ariane 6 rocket a success – even if the engine re-ignition did not work as planned in the end. With this, Europe now has the opportunity to send satellites, probes and other experiments into space.
The rocket was launched on Tuesday around 9 pm German time from the European spaceport in Kourou in French Guiana under the gaze of numerous participants and space enthusiasts. An hour later, the European space agency Esa announced the success of the flight after the rocket released several satellites.
The upper part cannot burn up as intended and remains in space
At the end of the flight, in a so-called test phase, the engine in the upper part of the rocket should fire again and basically turn this part. So it should re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up – and produce less space debris. Because the re-ignition did not work properly, the so-called upper stage, including the attachment where the satellites were located, is still in space. In addition, two space capsules that were supposed to re-enter the atmosphere were not separated. You will now stay in space with the senior class.
“It’s surprising that it didn’t work so little,” says independent space expert Martin Tajmar from the TU Dresden, evaluating the incident. The entire flight can still be considered a “resounding success” as 15 of the 17 payloads were delivered as satellites to the correct location. Only the two re-entry experiments could be done, the space systems professor said.
Something can go wrong during testing
Some things like this renewed ignition cannot be properly tested on Earth, explained Tajmar, who, like Manfletti, is not involved in the Ariane project. Because you have gravity on earth, but not in space. “Then the fuel moves around a bit – these are things you didn’t expect.” Then of course there would be no one in space who could intervene.
Chiara Manfletti, professor of space propulsion at the Technical University of Munich, also considers the mission very successful. “Everything went smoothly for the first flight.” At the end, something else was tested, which was the second aspect of the flight after the satellites were deployed.
Space agency celebrating
“Today is a big day to celebrate,” said Esa manager Josef Aschbacher. He was personally relieved. “We are making history today.” The entire flight of the 56 meter high and 540 tonne rocket was scheduled to last just under three hours.
Get out of the crisis with Ariane 6
The European space industry has been looking forward to the maiden flight of its new rocket for months. Because there is a lot at stake for the continent. The hopeful Ariane 6 is supposed to re-establish its own access to space and thereby secure independence.
Since Ariane 5, the predecessor of Ariane 6, was last launched into space almost a year ago, Europe has not had its own space shuttles to bring larger satellites into space. Aschbacher talked about a huge problem.
Many startups fail
Because there was trouble with the smaller satellites too. After a successful initial launch, the first commercial flight of the Vega C failed in late 2022. This type of rocket is not scheduled to fly again until November. In some cases, Esa switched to Falcon 9 rockets from Elon Musk’s US company SpaceX for satellite launches.
Space expert Tajmar recalled that Elon Musk launches many rockets until they function properly. “Because he also knows: You can’t test everything on the ground, you test it in flight.” He reckons everything will probably go as planned on the second Ariane 6 flight.
A successful flight is only the beginning
With the first flight of the Ariane 6, it is clear to Aschbacher: “Europe is back.” We are out of the crisis. But he also explained: “This is only the first step, we still have a lot of work to do.” The next Ariane 6 is scheduled to fly by the end of the year.
The CEO of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, praised: “We have succeeded in creating another rocket here that can be built again and again in the future in a kind of rocket factory.” According to Rolf Densing, head of ESA’s control center in Darmstadt, the industrial capacity is sufficient for up to eleven launches per year. The head of the rocket operator Arianespace, Stéphane Israël, said that they wanted to send Ariane 6 into space six times next year.
An unplanned adventure
An investigation is now underway into exactly what happened on the initial flight. The auxiliary engine of the upper stage first ignited, but then stopped, as the head of the ArianeGroup rocket manufacturer, Martin Sion, explained. With the re-ignition at the end of the first flights, the aim was to gather as much information as possible, explained Sion. They wanted to see how the upper stage of the rocket behaves in so-called microgravity, a state where the gravitational force does not work or is extremely weak.
“Everything doesn’t have to work out to the end”
The federal government’s aerospace coordinator, Anna Christmann, also sees no problem in the incident. “I think that’s what characterizes technologies like space travel: that you have to try these kinds of things firsthand,” Christmann said. “And you can see that everything doesn’t always have to work out until the end, but you learn from that and Ariane 6 will definitely get even better in the next few hours.” Overall, she thinks: “The initial process really went like clockwork.”
Esa recommends Ariane 6 for its flexibility
Ariane 6 had to wait ten years for its first launch. It is the successor model to the Ariane 5, which was in use from 1996 to the summer of 2023. The rocket is intended to carry satellites into space for commercial and public clients and is much cheaper than its predecessor.
Depending on the mission, the flexible rocket can be equipped with different numbers of engines and accommodate different payloads in a shorter or longer upper section. It can carry up to 21.6 tons of total cargo – depending on how far up the satellites need to be, for example.
A special feature of Ariane 6 is that it can deploy satellites in different orbits. This is done using an advanced engine called Vinci, which can be fired over and over again. It was assembled at the ArianeGroup Bremen rocket factory. According to Walther Pelzer, Director General of the German Space Agency at DLR, Germany was responsible for the most important innovation.
Experts do not think that rockets are particularly modern
Opinions differ on how modern the rocket is. Esa boss Aschbacher is convinced that the rocket meets the current challenges. Space expert Tajmar, however, answers the question of whether the rocket is up to date: “You can forget about that.” Tajmar’s focus is on the United States of America and SpaceX: “In 2015, the Falcon 9 rocket landed successfully for the first time and basically established the age of reusable space travel, where of course everyone now looks completely old other.”
The successor rocket should then be reusable
After all: According to ESA’s director of space transport Toni Tolker-Nielsen, the next rocket, which will eventually replace Ariane 6, should also be reusable. Esa currently plans to use Ariane 6 until at least the mid-2030s. Tajmar says we would be 20 years behind again. One: The long decision-making processes at Esa cannot be compared to the way SpaceX works.
Germany is important for the development of the rocket
A dozen countries were involved in the construction of Ariane 6. The upper stage was assembled in Bremen, the upper stage tanks and parts of the engine come from Augsburg and Ottobrunn. The Vinci engine was tested in Lampoldshausen, Baden-Württemberg. After France, Germany is the most important donor of the ESA countries and has received about 20 percent of the rocket costs of about four billion euros.