ArianeGroup ships the 1st Ariane-6 core and upper stages to French Guiana
Capitalism in space: ArianeGroup today announced that the first completed stages for its new Ariane-6 rocket have been shipped to French Guiana for testing.
The Ariane 6 core stage and upper stage intended for the combined tests on the launch pad in French Guiana have left the ArianeGroup sites in Les Mureaux and Bremen and begun their journey to Europe’s Spaceport. These stages will be integrated by ArianeGroup in the Launcher Assembly Building (BAL) to create the central core for the Ariane 6 combined tests model.
The press release provided no information on the schedule for the tests or the first launch. An earlier release had targeted the second quarter of ’22 for the inaugural launch, but based on today’s press release I would suspect that scheduled is very tentative.
This press release marks another major change in how Europe will launch rockets. No longer is the government-run Arianespace in charge. Instead, the commercial partnership of Airbus and Safran, dubbed ArianeGroup, is running things. In exchange for building this new rocket this partnership demanded a greater share of the profits and full control, something the European Space Agency (ESA) had denied them under Arianespace. This new arrangement was devised in the hope it would give this private partnership a direct interest in making a profit, thus cutting costs and encouraging innovation.
However, because ESA is still very very closely involved in every step, it is uncertain whether this arrangement will achieve its goals. Moreover, there are indications that ArianeGroup itself is somewhat risk adverse. For example, in designing Ariane-6 both decided to forego re-usability. Their rocket is thus more expensive than SpaceX, and has had trouble garnering launch contracts.
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Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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Capitalism in space: ArianeGroup today announced that the first completed stages for its new Ariane-6 rocket have been shipped to French Guiana for testing.
The Ariane 6 core stage and upper stage intended for the combined tests on the launch pad in French Guiana have left the ArianeGroup sites in Les Mureaux and Bremen and begun their journey to Europe’s Spaceport. These stages will be integrated by ArianeGroup in the Launcher Assembly Building (BAL) to create the central core for the Ariane 6 combined tests model.
The press release provided no information on the schedule for the tests or the first launch. An earlier release had targeted the second quarter of ’22 for the inaugural launch, but based on today’s press release I would suspect that scheduled is very tentative.
This press release marks another major change in how Europe will launch rockets. No longer is the government-run Arianespace in charge. Instead, the commercial partnership of Airbus and Safran, dubbed ArianeGroup, is running things. In exchange for building this new rocket this partnership demanded a greater share of the profits and full control, something the European Space Agency (ESA) had denied them under Arianespace. This new arrangement was devised in the hope it would give this private partnership a direct interest in making a profit, thus cutting costs and encouraging innovation.
However, because ESA is still very very closely involved in every step, it is uncertain whether this arrangement will achieve its goals. Moreover, there are indications that ArianeGroup itself is somewhat risk adverse. For example, in designing Ariane-6 both decided to forego re-usability. Their rocket is thus more expensive than SpaceX, and has had trouble garnering launch contracts.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
I don’t see how this rocket is going to be relevant in the future. None of it is reusable. It will suffer the same long draw out death that the SLS will eventually undergo. There is a new game in town and everyone but governments are playing it.
Yeah, it provides no further capability. Why spending $4 billion on developing that? Even if cost per launch will be lower by say $40 million (we’ll see about that), it takes 100 launches to justify the development cost. And it is still more than twice as expensive as a Falcon 9 with greater lift capacity!
If anything, they should keep on producing Ariane 5s, because it has been phenomenally successful and reliable. When you launch a billion dollar payload, you don’t care so much about those last $50 million or so extra for the launch. You want proven stuff. Falcon 9 is also extremely successful and reliable, so at most you can hope for being at par with that, albeit at a higher price. One of the first Ariane 6 launches will fail, that is highly likely as with all new rockets. That’s bad marketing. Sometimes a launch failure is caused by design problems that cannot reasonably be fixed. Who will pay extra for a greater risk of loss?
This is only politics. The French make the liquid rocket engine, the Italians make the solid boosters. That defines its basic design, the new European launcher must have both. And so on. What it is all about is that France want other countries to help pay for technology useful for updating their nuclear tipped missiles, so that they can pretend to still be a big boss in international politics. I call it the Trafalgar denial trauma.
Yeah, concerning reusability. There was a few years ago (I think it has silenced) talk about a later version that would separate its main engine, not the first stage but only the engine, and have it picked up by a helicopter in the ari as it plunges towards Earth. I wonder how easy it is to physically disconnect an engine from the pipings to the tanks and such?
If I may continue my amateurish speculations about the (main, liquid) engine-only separation thingy.
What if there’s some hydrogen and oxygen left in the disconnected pipes, that leaks as the pipes are somehow disconnected. There would perhaps be quite some turbulence and over-pressures involved there at high velocity in thin atmosphere as the aerodynamics by disconnection suddenly changes dramatically, and that those gasses in such a process could swirl around. Isn’t there a risk that they would come in contact with an be combusted by the still hot engine?
I hope that the idea of engine reusability has been abandoned. I’m sure Ariane 6 will fly and be reasonable successful after a few years. But it will add nothing to what Ariane 5 already has.
LocalFluff: The engine separation idea was proposed by ULA for its Vulcan rocket, though it appears it is pushing back this option into the far horizon, beyond the sunset.
As far as I know, Ariane-6 has never had re-usability included in any of its designs.
ESA is funding research on a follow-on rocket that would use re-usability. I suspect they might get it tested about the same time Starship lands on Mars, while also completing its 100th landing and reuse flight.
“There is a new game in town & no one but Elon is playing it.”
FIFY
Robert: I think the engine seperation idea was vaguely tested with Adilene. Back in 2015 and basically nothing to show for it…
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33006056
Similar approach, fly the engine pod back, not the tanks.
They looked at flybacks-but quit because they were ‘too large” Ariane 5 should remain. It is more like SLS…nearly stage-and-a-half. Wet workshop maybe. SLS money might be what helped Boeing’s Mach 5 recon project reported today,..though black budgeting is the real target.
Now Ariane might stick with South America…Imagine a tube rising out of the Pacific trench and up the slope of the Andes. Part Hypacc-part Star Tram. An off shore derrick provides evacuation…and access is a bit above sea level. Unmanned equipment at base and throat…Chile tunnel vets as spokesman.
@Robert Zimmerman
Yes of course! Thank you for reminding me. That explains why I’ve heard so little about it…
I confuse Vulcan with Ariane 6 because Arian 5’s main engine is called Vulcain.
Your aware what happens when Matter and Anti-Matter are brought together?