The European Space Agency has confirmed that the first launch of such a rocket will take place in the second quarter of 2022
PARIS, September 28. /TASS/. The commissioning ceremony of the launch complex for the Ariane 6 rockets under construction took place on Tuesday at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou (French Guiana). This was reported by the European Space Agency (ESA).
It confirmed the data it had previously provided that the first launch of such a rocket would be carried out in the second quarter of 2022. "Our goal is to meet the deadlines of the plans scheduled for 2022," Philippe Baptiste, Director General of the French National Center for Space Research (CNES), said at the ceremony.
The ESA contract with CNES for the development of a launch complex worth 600 million euros was signed in 2015. Construction slowed down significantly due to the pandemic, as work was stopped for several months and resumed at a very slow pace.
The weight of the launch table is 700 tons. A mobile service tower with a mass of 800 tons rises above the site at 90 m. It is with the help of it that the heavy class carrier will be delivered to the launch table and prepared for launch. The complex also includes a building for the assembly of the launch vehicle. The complex is equipped with a powerful water supply system, it is necessary for cooling the platform, the heating of which reaches 3,000 degrees Celsius at the launch of the rocket.
According to the head of CNES, the new complex will "significantly reduce the cost of launching missiles," which is "important for ensuring the competitiveness of the European carriers being created." It will also "provide Europe with autonomous access to space," Baptiste said. The final assembly and preparation for the launch of rockets will take 10 days, whereas previously it took about 30 days, said Stefan Israel, the head of Arianespace Corporation, who participated in the ceremony. In his opinion, all this will ensure the possibility of launching 12 Ariane 6 rockets from the Kourou cosmodrome per year.
