ArianeGroup is preparing to ship the Ariane 6 core stage and upper stage that will be used for the vehicle’s first flight towards the middle of this year to the launch site in French Guiana. Although the development of Ariane 6 has been hit with several years of delays, ESA and ArianeGroup are on the final stretch to the vehicle’s maiden launch.
According to a 17 January ESA press call, journalists will be given one last look at the upper stage in Bremen, Germany, on 26 January and the core stage in Les Mureaux, France, on 30 January. Once the pomp and circumstance have been completed, the two Ariane 6 stages will be loaded onto the transport vessel Canopée for its 10-day transatlantic crossing to the port of Pariacabo in French Guiana.
The 121-metre Ariane 6 transport ship is fitted with four rigid sails that each measure 37 metres in height. The sails will supplement two diesel engines while also enabling the vessel to reduce its fuel consumption and, thus, its carbon footprint. Canopée is capable of traveling up to 17 knots, or around 31 km/h.
Typically, Canopée would have five stops before embarking on its journey to French Guiana. Its first stop would be Bremen in Germany, where it would collect the Ariane 6 upper stage. It would collect the rocket’s fairing halves from Rotterdam in The Netherlands. Then, it would be on to Le Havre, France, for the core stage. Finally, it would make one last stop in Bordeaux, France, for solid propulsion elements. For this voyage, however, Canopée will not need to make as many stops.
Beyond Gravity, the company responsible for the rocket’s fairing, announced on 6 October 2023 that it was preparing to ship the fairing halves for the maiden flight aboard its own transport ship. On 17 October, EUROPROPULSION, a joint venture owned by ArianeGroup and Avio, announced that it had delivered the first of two P120C boosters for the flight. The company hasn’t yet announced anything about the second booster, but integration activities are likely currently taking place in French Guiana.
The core and upper stages are expected to arrive in French Guiana in mid-February, after which integration activities can commence. The maiden flight of Ariane 6 is currently expected to take place between 15 June and 31 July. While preparations do appear to be continuing smoothly, ArianeGroup has still not announced the results of its investigation into why an Ariane 6 upper stage test conducted on 7 December was aborted early.
