if you launch from mainland Portugal south like Vandenberg, no problem
from Azores launch like the from Kennedy space center east, it goes over Sahara desert, its population almost zero.
the french dit this with Diamant A launches too
The 1st and 2nd stages for the maiden Ariane 6 flight have come together. Once the integration process is complete, the stacked rocket will be transferred to the Mobile Gantry and lifted into a vertical position. Credit: ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE-ArianeGroup / Optique vidéo du CSG
The 1st and 2nd stages for the maiden Ariane 6 flight have come together. Once the integration process is complete, the stacked rocket will be transferred to the Mobile Gantry and lifted into a vertical position. Credit: ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE-ArianeGroup / Optique vidéo du CSG
Notice the Boudoir type of fund allocation that will plague France access to space as much surely that it did in the 1950s with the frenzy of gov financed prototypes that led to nothing.
Was there any RFI, RFP? No. Too much cliché, I guess.
Note that the two concepts shown in Barrington Bond's post were developed as part of the FESTIP program, FLTP was the follow up program that began in 1999.
For those who may be unfamiliar with those Ariane 6 incarnations, some background can be found below:
Note that the two concepts shown in Barrington Bond's post were developed as part of the FESTIP program, FLTP was the follow up program that began in 1999.
Aerospatiale didn't take part in the ESA-funded FESTIP (which started in 1994), nor did France in official capacity (CNES, although Dassault and other subcontractors did,), FESTIP was more German than French, with DASA in a leading role.
Taranis was an early (late 80s to early 90s) self-funded study by Aérospatiale.
It followed and was concurrent to the CNES-funded Dassault Star-H and Aérospatiale STS 2000 studies.
Compared to the STS 2000 studies, it didn't have any airbreathing propulsion, it started in a "stacked" position (Orbiter on top of first stage, like Starship), before moving the orbiter to a piggyback position ("shape 1.1") then ended with the orbiter on the belly of the S1. The first stage was "transatlantic", with landing in Dakar, Bermuda or the Azores, FESTIP's "Hopper" (which gave EADS's Phoenix) would also use this first stage trajectory.
It was under the direction of H.Lacaze, Hermes director at Aerospatiale.
Yet more money from the European taxpayer for the Ariane 6.
In late 2023, ESA approved another €210 million a year in subsidies for the operation of Ariane 6. With the increase, ArianeGroup will now receive €350 million per year from the European taxpayer to ensure the company can offer a competitive product.
Hardly surprising about the Galileo launch on the Falcon 9, they should have been launched on the Ariane 6 after the first test launch, the longer the Ariane 6 takes to fully enter service the worst it will get for Arianespace to find new customers.
For those who may be unfamiliar with those Ariane 6 incarnations, some background can be found below:
Note that the two concepts shown in Barrington Bond's post were developed as part of the FESTIP program, FLTP was the follow up program that began in 1999.
Having been a member of the FESTIP study team who was in charge of the rocket propelled near-Bimese FSSC-16 VTHL-TSTO, see e.g. https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/french-secret-projects-3.29611/page-3#post-534350, I have to tell you that this statement is plain wrong. France never was an official participant in FESTIP, and there was no Aerospatiale involvement whatsoever. The RLV design shown in Barrington Bond's post was a purely French concept.
Alors que les deux derniers satellites Galileo ont été lancés samedi par SpaceX, l'arrivée prochaine d'Ariane 6 va enfin permettre à l'Europe de retrouver sa pleine souveraineté en matière d'accès à l'espace. La Commission européenne a confié à Arianespace le lancement de quatre nouveaux...
www.latribune.fr
EUSPA contracted Arianespace for the first two launches of 2*2 New Generation Galileo satellites in 2026 and 2027 on Ariane 6.
This puts to 30 the current Ariane 6 Backlog (+maiden launch), 5 of which are for EUSPA Galileo launches.
The ESA has just put out this video concerning the upcoming Ariane 6 first flight:
Last week, Ariane 6’s central core – the main body of the rocket – was stood tall at the launch zone and connected to its two solid-fuel boosters. This exciting moment means only one thing: it’s the start of the first launch campaign.
The main stage and upper stage make up the core stage, and they were autonomously driven at 3 km/h from the rocket assembly building to the launch pad, 800 m away. Then lifted by a crane, the Ariane 6 core was stood upright on the launch table.
Ariane 6 is due to launch in summer 2024. The heavy-lift rocket will inaugurate a new era of autonomous European space transportation, powering Europe into space to realise its ambitions on the world stage. It will lift off from a modern launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying with it not just a variety of spacecraft, but also European goals for prosperity and autonomy.
Hydrolox rocket propelled throwaway two stage dildo 2.0 with even more wretched strap on solid rocket mafia boosters. For shame, ESA... It's moments like this that *almost* make me consider giving up my green card and becoming a US citizen, but then there's the local/national nightly news...
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