Europe completes 1st rollout of Ariane 6 mobile launch gantry
The mobile launch gantry that Europe will use for its new Ariane 6 rocket successfully completed its first rollout tests last week.
This gantry is the equivalent of NASA’s VAB building. Within this gantry they will assemble Ariane 6 vertically, then roll the gantry back for launch.
Assembling a rocket vertically I think is more costly, but it also makes it possible for the rocket to launch payloads that must be installed in this manner. Thus, Ariane 6 will have this selling point over rockets like the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, which are assembled horizontally.
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The mobile launch gantry that Europe will use for its new Ariane 6 rocket successfully completed its first rollout tests last week.
This gantry is the equivalent of NASA’s VAB building. Within this gantry they will assemble Ariane 6 vertically, then roll the gantry back for launch.
Assembling a rocket vertically I think is more costly, but it also makes it possible for the rocket to launch payloads that must be installed in this manner. Thus, Ariane 6 will have this selling point over rockets like the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, which are assembled horizontally.
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My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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This mobile gantry is not directly comparable to the VAB at KSC because it moves on rails to and from the fixed Ariane 6 launch mount while the VAB is fixed in position. The VAB is also much larger and can support simultaneous stacking of four different vehicles. Rockets are assembled within VAB atop mobile launch platforms that are moved, as a unit with the rockets they support, to and from the pad by the huge crawler-transporters.
The most similar pieces of U.S. space launch infrastructure are the Mobile Service Towers at Vandenberg AFB’s SLC-3E, used to support Atlas V launches, and at SLC-6, used to support Delta IV launches including the triple-core Delta IV Heavy. As with Araine 6 and its gantry, these structures are on rails and roll over the fixed launch mount while the vehicles are being vertically assembled, then roll back out of the way near launch time.