WASHINGTON – Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket has completed a fuel test and the last test run before its launch in July.
The European Space Agency said on June 21 that the agency and its partners completed a trial of wetsuits the previous day at the launch site in French Guiana. In the test, the rocket was filled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuel and went to a reading set before ignition.
“The wetsuit test is the last step before launch,” said Guy Pilchen, Ariane 6 launcher project manager at ESA, in a statement. The test, which is a standard test for new vehicles, allows the crew to “improve the operation required until it reaches the surface, using the hardware and software of the rocket for the first time,” he said. this.
The exam was originally scheduled for June 18 but was delayed by two days. ESA officials said in a meeting on June 19 after the ESA Council meeting that the slip is not related to any major problems and will not delay the launch of the vehicle, which was launched earlier the month for July 9.
“Preparations for the first flight are going very well,” said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher in that statement. It includes the closing of the issues remaining from the evaluation of the qualifications of the vehicle, completed June 14, and the installation of cargo and done on the high level of the rocket on the same day.
“There is no announcement, so everything is in progress, but there is still, of course, a lot of work to be done for the initial journey,” he said.
ESA’s statement about the completion of the wetsuit test added the analysis of data from June 26. ESA has also scheduled a series of announcements on June 25 to discuss pre-launch preparations.
Ariane 6 is crucial to ESA’s efforts to end a “launch crisis” that has left Europe temporarily independent in space. Many reasons have caused the crisis, such as the delay in the development of Ariane 6 which pushed its launch after the last launch of Ariane 5 almost a year ago, problems with the Vega C rocket which has been abandoned since the failure a year and a half ago, and the loss of access to the Soyuz rocket after the Russian attack on Ukraine more than two years ago.
ESA announced in November 2023 an agreement for the “enhanced use” of Ariane 6 and Vega C which includes the provision of 340 million euros ($364 million) per year of financial support for the Ariane 6. That agreement requires Ariane 6 development companies to reduce their costs by 11%.
“We’re on track for that,” Aschbacher said of that reduction in the statement. “Many discussions have been held with some of the main supply companies,” he added, and “good progress has been made in the last few days.”
“We’re making progress,” said Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA’s director of space transportation, about that cost reduction. He said an unnamed German automaker agreed to implement that price cut, “which is a big step forward.”
The agreement of November 2023 also required the transfer of responsibility for Vega C launch services from Arianespace to Avio, the main contractor for the rocket. Avio executives said last month that discussions about that transfer were ongoing.
Aschbacher said that the ESA was called to discuss the negotiations between the two companies last week in the agreement to release the Vega C at the request of one of the companies. “The conditions for the transfer of Vega C from Arianespace to Avio are clear,” he said. “We have made great progress and are very close, I would say, to closing the loopholes.” He did not highlight issues requiring ESA intervention.
The ESA Council had planned to pass a resolution approving that transfer at the meeting that ended on June 19, but Aschbacher said the council will hold another meeting at the end of the month to confirm the transfer.
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