ESA Euronews: Ariane 6
The race is on to build the new launch pad for the Ariane 6 rocket, due to make its maiden voyage in July 2020. Construction is in full swing in French Guiana as Europe builds not only a new rocket but also a new way of launching rockets, in a bid to face down competition from the likes of Space X.
When Euronews visited, around 500 people were active on the site from six in the morning until ten at night, with attention focused on two key elements of the pad – firstly the huge flame trench which will take the hot gases away from the rocket on launch, and the new building in which the Ariane 6 will be built.
This video is also available in the following languages:
German: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4u07oXpMLY
French: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Jiivb0eZs
Italian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEFpiOk6xQ0
Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_8Gy7kQyI4
Portuguese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzArKzBPF08
Hungarian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdYyyMm4IyY
Greek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b371yYF29MQ
Nice music.
Well, I'm from Germany so I wish Europe would have a good launch system in the future, but Ariane 6 will not be that. It it built to compete with the current prices of SpaceX Falcon 9. When Ariane 6 launches in 3 years, the Falcon 9 from SpaceX will cost a fraction of what it costs now, so Ariane 6 will not get any commercial customers. If Europe would be intelligent, they would stop the Ariane 6 project immediately and focus on a reusable one.
How do you want to reduce the costs so rapidly like SpaceX? Are you planning to reuse the first or second stage?
0:30 "What it takes to stay ahead in the space buisness" Definitely not Ariane6…
This is all great. However, like the Ariane 5, will the Ariane 6 be man rated? When will we finally send European Astronauts by our own means? It is getting quite old waiting our turn to with he Americans and the Russians…
Ariane 6 is a political project, as is every large research project. If it fails to compete economically with SpaceX, I am sure it will be subsidized by the European governments so that it will be economically viable and a success. ESA can just buy the market – a luxury that SaceX cannot afford.
I am a former employee of DEA Systembau.
I worked on the Ariane 6 project with three co-workers from Poland.
We assembled metal panels sheet and I built a steel construction for these panels.
DEA wants to cheat us, namely, DEA does not want to pay for our work correctly.