Having Been Delayed For 4 Years, Europe Will Launch A Ariane Rocket 6

Illustration of the launch of the Ariane 6 rocket (photo: dock. ESA)

JAKARTA – Ariane 6, a rocket owned by the European Space Agency (ESA), is targeted to launch on July 10 between 13:00 p.m. and 17:00 p.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIB). This rocket will take off from the launch facility in Kourou, French Guiana.

With a length of 56 meters, Ariane 6 is equipped with two solid boosters and uses a Vulcan 2.1 engine fueled by liquid hydrogen and oxygen. The engine used by Ariane 6 is an improvement over the previous generation of rockets.

This rocket is capable of carrying a load of up to 10.3 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), but Ariane 6 will not carry much payload. This launcher only carries several small satellites and experimental objects from ESA, research institutions, universities, and others.

This is the first launch of an Ariane rocket after a four-year delay. This rocket is supposed to fly in 2022, replacing the retired Ariane 5, and is more cost-effective.

The Ariane 6 launch was highly anticipated as Europe has not had a launch vehicle for years. Although the success of the launch is not yet 100 percent guaranteed, Ariane 6 already has many orders.

This rocket has 30 orders to be worked on and 18 of them are from Amazon which wants to launch satellites to the Kuiper constellation. This satellite will be a competitor to Starlink because Amazon plans to provide a broadband internet network.

During testing, Ariane 6 had a high failure rate. Therefore, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher is confident that the first Ariane 6 launch will fail with a chance of almost 50 percent.

"Statistically, there is a 47% chance that the first flight will not be successful or happen as planned," Josef said, quoted from Spacenews. If Ariane 6 fails to launch, this rocket will be repaired first before continuing to the next launch.