The new heavy European rocket Ariane 6 has been improved – the next launch will take place in February

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced that the second ever launch of the new Ariane 6 heavy rocket will take place in February. This flight was expected before the end of 2024, but anomalies that occurred during the first launch forced changes to the rocket, which took more time.

Image source: ESA/Manuel Pedoussaut

The Ariane 6 rocket first flew into space in July 2024, overcoming numerous delays and replacing the outdated Ariane 5 carrier. Overall, the flight was successful, but with some reservations. In particular, a problem is known about the booster (second) stage. She was unable to start the engines at the right time and leave orbit at the specified location. The fall of the step became uncontrollable. Also, such an anomaly could disrupt a space mission, during which it would be necessary to direct the upper stage to a different orbit or trajectory.

Analysis of the problem and other anomalies allowed the designers to make corrective changes to the rocket and make it even more reliable, which the launch operator, Arianespace, will demonstrate in about a month.

«”We did a very detailed analysis of the first flight and obviously found several anomalies and things that needed to be corrected,” said Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA’s acting director of spaceflight. “And this led to the second flight being postponed until February.”

During the February mission, the rocket will launch the CSO-3 spy satellite into orbit for the French military. Overall, the space year 2025 should be busy for Europeans. A total of five launches of the Ariane 5 heavy rocket are planned, the last of which will be using all four solid rocket boosters (four launches will take place using two boosters). Four launches are also expected of the new lightweight Vega C rocket, which returned to flight late last year after an accident in 2022.