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Arianespace

Arianespace loses key launch order

July 9th is the scheduled launch date for the much-delayed test flight European Space Agency’s (ESA) Ariane 6 rocket. However, last week saw Europe’s important weather organisation cancel its launch contract on an Ariane 6 flight. Worse, perhaps, the cancellation was made in favour of Arianespace’s arch-rival SpaceX. Eumetsat, in a June 28th statement, said […]

July 1, 2024

Europe seeks new rival to Ariane

Europe already has one rival to its giant Ariane rocket in the form of the Vega mid-sized launcher. However, Vega is itself subject to delays caused by a failure at the end of 2022 and in any case is only good for lower weight or orbital tasks. Stephane Israel, chief executive of Arianespace, questioned the […]

February 6, 2024

ESA confirms summer launch for Ariane 6

The first full test launch for the all-new Ariane 6 rocket will happen between June 15th and July 31st this year. The European Space Agency (ESA) issued a joint report from the Launcher Task Force on progress to date and its schedule for the future as it gears up to the summer test launch for […]

February 2, 2024By Chris Forrester

Report: Record launch activity in space sector

Space Foundation has issued its Space Report for Q4 2023 revealing that global launch activity reached new highs for the third year in a row, with 223 launch attempts and 212 successful launches. Commercial launch activity increased 50 per cent from 2022. The US saw a 33 per cent increase in launch attempts, with China, […]

January 31, 2024By Chris Forrester

“No guarantee” over ArianeGroup’s future

The launch of Europe’s scientific and commercial satellites has in general been handled by rockets from Arianespace. Currently, the company’s latest rocket, Ariane 6, is very late with its readiness and its first (non-test) flight will not happen – at best – until next winter. The delay has prompted a very direct criticism by the […]

January 12, 2024By Chris Forrester

Ariane 6 “on track”

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) giant Ariane 6 rocket remains firmly on track for a test launch in June-July 2024. The test flight confirmation came from the Ariane 6 Launcher Task Force, which consists of top management of ESA, as the overall Ariane 6 procuring entity and launch system architect, of the French space agency […]

December 20, 2023By Chris Forrester

ESA extra funding for Arianespace

Government members of the European Space Agency (ESA) have agreed to fund an extra €340 million per year to Arianespace for its planned Ariane 6 rocket currently in development. The cash is needed to pay for the non-activity of Arianespace because its new rocket is extremely late. An inaugural test flight for Ariane 6 is […]

November 7, 2023By Chris Forrester

ESA chooses SpaceX over Arianespace again

SpaceX has signed a deal with the European Space Agency (ESA) over potential satellite launches, according to the WSJ. Normally – in fact almost always – ESA uses Arianespace rockets to launch its scientific and governmental missions. However, there are no Arianespace launches available until 2025. The first test flight of Arianespace’s new Ariane 6 […]

October 24, 2023By Chris Forrester

Arianespace revises testing schedule for Ariane-6

Josef Aschbacher, Director General at the European Space Agency (ESA), says that planned pre-launch testing schedule for the new Ariane 6 rocket has been amended in order to “optimise” the timetable. Aschbacher said: “In order to optimise the #Ariane6 testing schedule, the test sequence has been inverted. This allows us to anticipate the launch rehearsal […]

October 23, 2023

Arianespace needs extra €210m p/a to stay solvent

Airbus and Safran, who between them control ArianeGroup, are asking for an additional €210 million – over and above the €140 million a year it already receives – in order to operate the Arianespace rocket system. The news was revealed by Europe in Space and France’s La Tribune newspaper. The problem for ArianeGroup is that […]

October 13, 2023