Ariane 6 launchpad ready 8 years late
September 30, 2021
By Chris Forrester
A major event took place in French Guiana when the launch complex for the upcoming Ariane 6 rockets was inaugurated. Dubbed ELA-4, the massive facility cost well over its budgeted €600 million. The project is also some eight years late.
The project was managed by the French national space agency CNES.
The site is now handed over to Ariane for a series of tests in readiness for the launch in Q2/2022 for the maiden test flight of its Ariane 6 rocket.
The CNES statistics are impressive and refer to some 55,000 cubic metres of concrete and 8,000 metres of structural steelwork and that some 75 per cent of the construction workers were locally hired.