ArianeGroup has revealed that a pair of P120 solid-fuel boosters for the second flight of the company’s Ariane 6 rocket have been completed and transferred to the Booster Storage Building.
The inaugural flight of the Ariane 6 rocket took place from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana in July. While Arianespace, the commercial operator of the rocket, had stated following its debut that the second Ariane 6 launch would take place before the end of 2024, it has since been pushed back to the first quarter of 2025.
In late November, ArianeGroup shipped the first and second stages of the next Ariane 6 flight across the Atlantic, with the Ariane 6 transport ship Canopée arriving at Pariacabo Port in French Guiana on 28 November. The elements of the rocket’s two boosters were, however, shipped during an earlier transatlantic voyage, and integration activities were already underway.
On 3 November, ArianeGroup announced that the assembly of the two 140-tonne solid-fuel boosters had been completed. The boosters have since been moved to the Guiana Space Centre’s Booster Storage Building (BSB).
Measuring 60 metres in length, 23 metres in width, and 32 metres in height, the BSB can store up to 12 P120 boosters. These boosters are used on Ariane 6 in configurations of two or four and serve as the first stage for Vega C. The BSB plays a crucial role in supporting a higher launch cadence for both rockets compared to their predecessors. In the case of Ariane 6, ArianeGroup has set a targeted launch cadence of 12 flights per year.
The payload for the second Ariane 6 rocket launch
When the next Ariane 6 rocket is launched in the first quarter of 2025, it will carry the CSO-3 spy satellite into orbit for the French armed forces.
The approximately 3,500-kilogram CSO-3 satellite will be the third addition to the Composante Spatiale Optique (CSO) constellation, replacing the country’s Helios 2 military observation satellites. The addition of the third CSO satellite will enable increased revisit capabilities for the constellation.
