- The core stage and the upper stage for the first Ariane 6 flight model are on board the Canopée sailing ship en route for delivery to Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at the end of February.
- These stages integrated and tested by ArianeGroup on its sites in Les Mureaux (France) and in Bremen (Germany), will join the Launcher Assembly Building (BAL) at Europe’s Spaceport, situated in the launch zone dedicated to Ariane 6.
- There, they will be assembled to form the launcher’s central core, which will then be raised vertically on the launch pad, after which it will be fitted with two boosters, as the inaugural flight will use an Ariane 62. Lastly, the fairing with the payloads will be installed.
- The Ariane 6 program is managed and financed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the first flight is scheduled between June 15 and July 31, 2024.
The Canopée ship left the port of Le Havre, in France, carrying the core and upper stages of the Ariane 6 launcher which will be used on the inaugural flight. Arrival at the port of Pariacabo in Kourou, French Guiana, from where it will be transferred to Europe’s Spaceport, is scheduled for the end of February.
“Delivery of the stages for this first Ariane 6 is a crucial step along the road to the inaugural flight and then to commercial operation of the European heavy launcher,” said Martin Sion, CEO of ArianeGroup. “I want to thank the teams at ArianeGroup and those of our industrial partners* for their efforts in recent months. Production of the subsequent flight models is continuing in parallel at our plants in France and Germany, to support a ramp-up that is as ambitious as it is vital, in order to meet the expectations of Arianespace’s institutional and commercial customers.”
The cryogenic upper stage, equipped with its Vinci® engine, is integrated at ArianeGroup’s Bremen site in Germany. The cryogenic core stage, equipped with its Vulcain 2.1 engine, is integrated on ArianeGroup’s Les Mureaux site, near Paris in France. After undergoing a series of functional tests at the end of the integration procedures, the two stages were respectively taken to the ports of Bremen, on February 5, and Le Havre, on February 10. On board Canopée, they will reach the port of Pariacabo, in Kourou, by the end of February.
These two stages will then be off-loaded and transferred to the Launcher Assembly Building (BAL) on the ELA4 launch complex. There, they will be assembled together by the ArianeGroup teams to constitute the launcher’s central core. This will then be transferred from the BAL to the launch pad.
Once on the launch pad, the central core will be raised to the vertical position and placed on the launch table. It will be joined there by the two boosters, one to be installed on each side, to form an Ariane 62. These two solid fuel boosters are also undergoing final integration by the ArianeGroup teams in a specifically-established building at the European Spaceport.
The upper composite consisting of the fairing and the payloads will then be added to the launcher on the launch pad.
The Ariane 6 program is managed and funded by ESA. As industrial lead contractor and design authority for the launcher, ArianeGroup is responsible for its development and production with its industrial partners, as well as for its marketing through its Arianespace subsidiary. French Space Agency, CNES, and its contractual partners are responsible for the construction of the Ariane 6-dedicated launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana. CNES in partnership with ArianeGroup also conducts the combined tests under the responsibility of ESA.
* Main industrial partners of Ariane 6 program are: Airbus Netherlands, Airbus Spain, Air Liquide (France), Apco (Switzerland), Avio (Italy), Beyond Gravity (Switzerland), GKN (Sweden), MT-A Aerospace (Germany) as well as Sabca, Safran AB and TAS in Belgium.
