Will Europe's Latest Heavy Lift Rocket Take On Elon Musk's SpaceX?

Europe lost its heavy rocket launching capability nearly a year ago when the Ariane-5 - owned by the European Space Agency - retired on July 5, 2023. Its replacement - the Ariane-6 - had been in the making since at least 2014. Delayed for years, the rocket will embark on its maiden test flight at 8.30 pm tonight.

The rocket will be launched from the European spaceport located in French Guiana, South America - on the Equator - which makes it an apt place for such launches.

The Ariane-6 rocket is 63 meters tall and weighs at its heaviest configuration a whopping 860 tons.

It has been estimated to have cost about 3.6 billion euros and each launch would cost 115 million euros. It is an expendable rocket, which means its configuration is for one-time use only.

Its earlier avatar - Ariane-5 - was a very successful rocket that last flew on July 5, 2023. The 50-metre-tall, 780-ton rocket, had in all 117 launches with a success rate of nearly 96 %. It was the go-to launcher for all European nations.

It was also India's go-to rocket for launching heavy satellites. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched 25 satellites on the heavy lift launcher.

With that option not available anymore, India will be using SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket for its upcoming launch of the GSAT-20 communications satellite. This 4,700-kg satellite will be lofted into space in the middle of August.

ISRO had to go to SpaceX for the GSAT-20 launch since India's own heavy rocket, the Launch Vehicle Mark 3, cannot lift such a heavy satellite and no other commercial launchers were available to India, the space agency's chief S Somanath told NDTV.

Once Ariane-5 retired and Ariane-6 was delayed for years, the void was filled by the Elon Musk-owned US aerospace company SpaceX. Its Falcon-9 rocket became the go-to rocket for all heavy launches as this partially reusable rocket has had 352 launches since 2010 and has an enviable 99.4 % success rate.

At the same time, European nations were jittery at not having a European rocket to access space and many were reluctant to launch their spy satellites using American rockets.

This led the European consortium - Ariane Group - to push ahead with their own rocket.

The Ariane 6 launch vehicle is a European Space Agency (ESA) program, said a statement by the Arianespace. It will provide new levels of efficiency and flexibility to meet customers' evolving launch services needs across a full range of commercial and institutional missions.

Developed by Ariane Group (Arianespace's parent company) and its European industrial partners, Ariane-6 will deliver increased payload performance with enhanced flexibility to launch a wide range of missions with the same high reliability demonstrated throughout the Ariane program.

The next-generation launch vehicle is being built in two versions: Ariane 62, which is perfectly suited for institutional missions; and Ariane 64, which primarily will serve the commercial market.

According to Arianespace, the core stage with solid rocket boosters propels Ariane-6 in the first 10 minutes of flight to 200 km. The upper stage is powered by the re-ignitable Vinci engine fuelled by cryogenic liquid oxygen and hydrogen. After payload separation, the upper stage will perform a de-orbit maneuver in order to mitigate space debris.

"With 30 missions in our order book, Ariane-6 has already gained the trust of institutional and commercial customers. We are preparing to make Ariane-6's second launch by the end of the year, followed by a steady rise to around 10 launches a year once we reach cruising speed. It represents a splendid challenge for Arianespace and our partners," said Stephane Israel, CEO of Arianespace.

World's leading scientific journal Nature said, "Europe is poised to regain independent access space when the long-awaited Ariane-6 rocket performs its inaugural flight from Kourou, French Guiana. The heavy-lift launcher will provide the main route to space for the continent's scientific missions, from Solar System exploration to climate science - and for strategic assets such as intelligence and navigation satellites."

All eyes are on today's launch since the European nations, the world and India all want a competing launcher available to cater to the burgeoning commercial launch market other than the monopoly of SpaceX.