ArianeGroup is currently assembling the central core of the launcher for the Ariane 6 inaugural flight.

Operations are underway in the Launcher Assembly Building at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana to mate and integrate the launcher’s main and upper stages to form the central core. This complex, highly delicate process requires technical expertise and extreme precision, because the two stages need to be perfectly aligned with just 150 mm between them, so that the electrical connections can be made. They are then mechanically joined together with a bolted inter-stage structure.

The launcher which was used for the combined tests has now been removed from the launch pad, so that the first Ariane 6 flight model can take its place. The central core of the test launcher is now itself in storage in the same Launcher Assembly Building situated on the Ariane 6-dedicated ELA-4 Launch Complex.

This means that the building is temporarily being shared by the central cores of both launchers, during the assembly and test of the inaugural flight model, before it is transferred to the launch zone.

The Ariane 6 program is managed and funded by the European Space Agency (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. The French Space Agency, CNES, and its contractual partners are responsible for the construction and the operation of the Ariane 6-dedicated launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana