European Space Agency Approves Final Design For A Next-Generation Rocket, Ariane 6

ESA Approves Final Design For Ariane 6

The European Space Agency (ESA) has approved the final configuration for a next-generation rocket, Ariane 6.

It will be powered by two solid-fuelled lower stages and incorporate the liquid-fuelled upper-stage currently being developed as an upgrade for the existing Ariane 5 vehicle.

The 6 will have less lifting capacity than the 5 - some 3-6.5 tonnes to the high orbits occupied by telecoms satellites, versus the 11.5 tonnes the 5 will have after its upgrade. The rocket is required to lift up to 6.5 tonnes of payload into geostationary orbit, covering government and commercial needs.

It requires support of 120 million euros ($154 million) each year, at a time when sleek US entrepreneurs are starting to nibble at the satellite market.

The rocket is required to lift up to 6.5 tonnes of payload into geostationary orbit

In a press release, ESA said the design was for a three-stage vehicle

• Its first stage would comprise three motors, set in a line as opposed to a more conventional "cluster" configuration, that would be powered by 135 tonnes of solid propellant.

• The second stage will also be driven by a solid-propellant motor.

• The third will be propelled by a planned liquid-fuelled engine, Vinci, designed to be restartable rather than a single-burn motor, to give more options for placing payloads in complex orbits.

Jean-Yves Le Gall, head of France's National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), said the rocket's smaller size and newer technology would make Ariane 6 launches 30 percent cheaper than those of Ariane 5, which cost about 100 million euros per six-tonne satellite.

It would be the first rocket to use the new-fangled Vinci upper-stage engine.

ESA With Vinci Upper-Stage Engine

"The desire is to simplify the design and to simplify the manufacturing, because these are the ways to reduce the costs," Antonio Fabrizi, Esa's director of launchers, said.

"We don't reduce the costs via technologies; there are no breakthrough technologies that help us to make revolutionary launchers that can provide performance at low cost.", he added.

Under the deal, Ariane 6 will incorporate as much of the Ariane 5 ME technology as possible to save waste and time.

 Ariane 6 will incorporate as much of the Ariane 5 ME technology

If all goes well, Ariane 6 will make its maiden flight in 2021 or 2022, becoming Europe's workhorse launcher for the next decade.

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Write by: RC - Wednesday, July 10, 2013