Two floors ofAriane 6
will arrive this month at Guyanese Space Center
, to form, once assembled, the first Ariane 6, which will be dedicated to combined tests. While waiting for the inaugural flight, Arianespace will operate its three other launchers during campaigns spread over the whole year.
The new contracts support future rates.
Arianespace, a solid operator!
Eight Galileo satellites spread over three Ariane 6 launches and one Soyuz, as well as two light satellites from the Italian Space Agency to be sent with Vega and Vega C. Here are the new major contracts unveiled yesterday by Arianespace during the traditional “wishes to the press ”, moderated by the CEO of the company based in Évry, Stéphane Israël.
Institutional satellites, serving state agencies or the European Union, which represent a growing share of Arianespace’s order book today, even though the operator claims the greatest number of commercial payloads sent in 2021 (its opponent SpaceX mainly sent its own satellites and payloads from the US government).
The European operator sells takeoffs from Soyuz (in Guyana, but not only), the small Vega launcher, Vega C and of course Ariane. And the current momentum, following the successful takeoff of the James Webb Telescope, is encouraging. The order book currently reaches 36 launches for 2022 and the years to come!
2022 promises to be winding
Arianespace is expecting a busy year in terms of launches, after 15 shots in 2021 (the majority of which were carried out in Russia on behalf of its main private client, the OneWeb constellation). While being optimistic, the company even hopes for up to 17 shots in 2022… A figure which will probably not be reached, the fault of inevitable delays on certain emblematic campaigns, in particular at the Guyanese Space Center.
On site, the teams are currently busy with the first two takeoffs from Soyuz, once again for OneWeb, as well as for a pair of Galileo satellites. Already seen? No campaign is exactly like another… Above all, there are transitions in sight this year. The one that will lead to the inaugural takeoff of Vega C, scheduled for May (for now) is important. However, for an important part of the public, it is the passage of Ariane 5 to 6 which remains the most awaited milestone.
Indeed, “only” five Ariane 5 shots remain, four of which are officially scheduled for this year. The retirement of the emblematic launcher is planned after a final high fire at the service of the European Space Agency in 2023, to send the JUICE probe to the icy moons of Jupiter. But will Ariane 6 be in service by then? Stéphane Israël and Arianespace affirm that the flight is still planned this year, in the second half of the year. Despite everything, the program will be busy to achieve this. There remains the great campaign of combined tests, the “dress rehearsal” for Ariane 6 and its launch site … before being able to move on to the inaugural firing.
On the way to the combined tests
For the combined tests, a first “complete” Ariane 6 was needed in Guyana, and this will soon be done, since a first and second stage are currently in the boat towards the site to be assembled horizontally. A first for a European launcher.
Once out of the BAL (launcher assembly building), the central body will be verticalized under its new gantry, then four boosters (dummy, but representative for the combined test campaign) and a fairing will be attached to it to simulate a complete assembly. . After which, a series of five fires is expected.
The program is aimed at spring, but the full package related to the combined tests could reach or even exceed six months if there are still adjustments to be made to the stages before their assembly once at the Guyanese Space Center. This was the case in 2021 with the upper stage of Ariane 6 leaving for its tests in Germany at Lampoldshausen at the end of January. Eleven months after his departure, the main firing test has not yet taken place … but it is expected in the coming weeks.
Other work at CSG
Whatever happens, the Guyanese teams will have a lot to do this year, especially since it is a question of preparing the arrival of future players with small launchers (the Callisto demonstrator, whose development is no longer the subject of communications, but also its cousin Themis from 2025).
The work carried out by Eiffage, and supervised by CNES, on the former Diamond rocket launch site should make it a “multi-use” base. Great prospects!
After the 1960s which saw France become the third space power, then the 1970s marked by the difficult consolidation of the European space industry, ESA succeeded in establishing itself as a serious commercial player thanks to the Ariane 3 rockets. and Ariane 2. But even before Ariane 1 made its first flight, the European Space Agency had planned to compete with the new European space shuttle with a heavy and modular launcher: Ariane 4.
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Source: Arianespace
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