Europe’s new heavy-lift launcher, Ariane 6, successfully lifted-off on July 9th from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, opening a new chapter in Europe’s autonomous access to space.
Thales Alenia Space has contributed to this collective success by developing and manufacturing key technologies on board Ariane 6: the launcher’s range safeguard system, the telemetry transmitters and the control electronics for the nozzle steering systems.
A versatile launcher
Ariane 6 will launch a wide range of space missions for institutional and commercial customers. The launcher comes in two versions, depending on the power needed for each flight: Ariane 62, equipped with two solid rocket boosters, and Ariane 64, which will have four. In its more powerful configuration, Ariane 6 will be capable to carry up to 21.6 tons of payload mass to low Earth orbit (LEO) and up to 11.5 tons to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). In its first flight, Ariane 6 was equipped with two boosters and showed off the rocket’s restartable upper stage.
