Ariane 5 lifts off on last mission as Europe faces space gap (updated)

OHB SE

05/07/2023 23:14

(Adds details on Ariane 5, Ariane series, industry details and
background in paragraphs 4-12)
    By Joey Roulette and Tim Hepher
       July 5 (Reuters) - Europe's Ariane 5 rocket on Wednesday
blasted off from French Guiana for the final time, carrying two
military communications satellites and leaving its nations with
a vacuum in autonomous access to space for the first time in
more than four decades.
    The 53-metre-tall, three-stage launcher left the launchpad
in the French spaceport of Kourou on its 117th and final mission
at 7 p.m. local time (2300 GMT), according to a live webcast.
    The mission to deploy France's Syracuse 4B and Germany's
Heinrich Hertz (H2Sat) satellites to geostationary orbit caps 27
years of service for Ariane 5, whose successor - Ariane 6 - has
been hit by technical delays until 2024 for operational use.
    Europe until recently depended on Ariane 5 and its
11-tonne-plus capacity for heavy missions, as well as Russia's
Soyuz launcher for medium payloads and Italy's Vega for small
ones.
    But Moscow last year withdrew access to Soyuz amid tensions
over Ukraine and the upgraded Vega C remains grounded after the
failure of its second launch in December, sparking what the head
of the European Space Agency has termed a space launch "crisis."
    The CEO of Airbus  AIR.PA , which co-owns manufacturer
ArianeGroup with France's Safran  SAF.PA , said in June the gap
highlighted Europe's "vulnerability" in space. "All pressure is
now on Ariane 6," Guillaume Faury told the Paris Air Forum.
    The first test launch of Ariane 6 is expected at the end of
the year depending on tests to be carried out in the summer,
with the first commercial operation planned for next year.
    The final launch of Ariane 5 was delayed last month for
technical reasons and again this week because of weather.
    Led initially by France, Germany and the UK, Europe's Ariane
series pioneered commercial launches but now faces intense
competition from Elon Musk's SpaceX, prompting the development
of a more inexpensive Ariane 6 to better compete with the Falcon
9.
    Development of the family of launchers began in 1973, with
the first Ariane 1 lifting off in 1979.
    Ariane 5's maiden flight in 1996 ended in failure as the
rocket went off course after 40 seconds and self-destructed.
    But the new workhorse took part in several launch milestones
including the James Webb Telescope in 2021, in partnership with
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, as well as Europe's
comet-chasing Rosetta mission, which deployed a landing probe in
2014.

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Europe plans first Ariane 6 rocket launch in Q4 of 2023   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N31K1NO
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris and Joey Roulette in
Washington
Editing by Matthew Lewis)
 ((tim.hepher@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 54 52; Reuters
Messaging: tim.hepher.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))