MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th August, 2023) The first test-launch of the new European-made Ariane-6 carrier rocket will take place in 2024, European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher said on Tuesday.
The launch of Ariane-6 has been postponed several times.
"The ESA, ArianeGroup, Arianespace and (France's National Center for Space Studies) confirm that the inaugural launch is now targeted for 2024," he tweeted.
On July 18, launch system tests were successfully conducted at the Guiana Space Center located in Kourou, Aschbacher said, adding that more tests are scheduled for August 29 and September 26. Only after that will the space agency be able to provide for a more precise launch date for Ariane-6, which is often described as a prospective competitor to SpaceX's reusable rockets.
On July 6, the Ariane-5 rocket blasted off for the last time, marking its farewell flight after 27 years of service, as it carried German experimental satellite Heinrich-Hertz-Satellit and French military communications satellite Syracuse 4B into orbit. This effectively left the EU without independent space launch capacity until Ariane-6 is ready to enter service.
In February 2022, Russia, whose Soyuz rockets used to launch EU satellites from French Guiana, announced it was terminating the cooperation with the ESA and withdrawing its technical personnel from the Kourou space center in response to the European Union's imposing sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict.
