Europe Rejoins Space Race with Ariane 6 Rocket Launch

The powerful European-built Ariane 6 rocket made its long-awaited liftoff on Tuesday, marking the region’s reentry into a launch market dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The Ariane 6, standing over 200 feet tall and powered by its Vulcain engine and two boosters, launched from Kourou in French Guiana at 3 p.m. ET, successfully reaching orbit.

The $4.5 billion project, overseen by the European Space Agency (ESA) and built by ArianeGroup, a joint venture between Airbus and Safran, involves contributions from 13 nations. Ariane 6 continues a European rocket lineage dating back to the 1970s, succeeding the Ariane 5, which retired last year after 117 launches. Ariane 6 comes in two versions: Ariane 62, capable of delivering up to 10,000 kilograms of cargo to low Earth orbit (LEO), and Ariane 64, which can carry up to 21,000 kilograms to LEO.

Ariane 6 falls into the “heavy” class of rockets in the launch market. Its debut flight is a demonstration mission for the ESA, carrying a variety of small satellites and spacecraft. The nearly three-hour flight will deploy 11 spacecraft and includes key tests of the rocket’s upper stage engine.

The launch faced multiple delays due to technical issues, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. Following its invasion of Ukraine, Russia suspended all European mission launches on its Soyuz rockets. Additionally, the smaller Vega-C rocket has been grounded since a failed 2022 launch, with no flights expected until later this year at the earliest.

Despite rising costs and delays, European leaders support the Ariane 6 program, emphasizing the importance of independent access to space rather than reliance on SpaceX. SpaceX’s reusable and cost-effective Falcon 9 rockets have become a strong alternative for spacecraft awaiting Ariane 6’s debut. High-profile ESA missions like the EarthCARE spacecraft, Euclid telescope, and Galileo satellites have already launched on SpaceX rockets.

Recently, European weather satellite operator EUMETSAT switched an upcoming satellite launch from Ariane 6 to Falcon 9, a decision that sparked criticism from other European officials. Beyond Europe’s desire for independent space access, Ariane 6 has a crucial customer in Amazon, which has ordered 97 rocket launches from five companies, nearly a fifth of which were won by Arianespace to launch Project Kuiper internet satellites on Ariane 6.