The New Space Economy and then the Moon and Mars: the future is in the DNA of the new European launcher Ariane 6, born from innovative technologies such as 3D printing and with the help of virtual reality.
After passing the first test phase, the stage race has begun that will bring the largest in the European Space Agency (ESA) family of launchers to face the first flight, scheduled by ESA in the second quarter of 2022 . Its realization "is a big step forward to equip Europe with a large launcher capable of delivering satellites on different orbits and potentially reusable", Morena Bernardini, strategy director of ArianeGroup, told ANSA. Franco-German specialized in the construction of launchers.
After the completion of the tests of the upper stage of the launcher, which is equipped with the re-ignitable Vinci engine, combined with the small auxiliary APU engine, the next step will be the fire tests, planned at the site of the German space agency DLR in Lampoldshausen, where the arrival of the upper stage is expected in these days.
The upper stage of Ariane 6 after completion of the first phase of tests at the ArianeGroup plant in Bremen (source: ArianeGroup)
"Passing the first tests was a great advance - observed Bernardini - and now the complete first stage will have to face the fire tests in the second quarter of 2021, to arrive later on the final model, in view of the launch".
At the end of the year, the meeting between the new launcher and its launch pad, which the French space agency is building at the European base of Kourou (French Guiana), is expected.
The next step will be the launch.
One of the novelties of this stage is in its ability of the small APU motor to generate small accelerations and "the ability to restart the motor of the upper stage several times is one of the main characteristics of Ariane 6, which puts it in able to serve on different orbits, but also in the lunar orbit and in the future in the Martian one ".
The new European pitcher, he added, "is in fact close to the great performances of the American and Chinese ones".
Suffice it to say that the most powerful version of Ariane 6, Ariane 64, will have the capacity to carry a cargo of 8.5 tons into cislunar orbit.
3D printing, digitalization and virtual reality are the new technologies that have contributed to making Ariane 6 a launcher that looks to the future.
"The combustion chamber of the Vinci engine - notes Bernardini - was made with 3D printing, as well as the future Prometeus engine, which is part of the next generation and which constitutes the collective advancement of Europe towards more eco-sustainable launchers. , in line with the energy transition adopted by Europe. We make it our will to go in this direction ".
