KOUROU: Europe’s new heavy-lift rocket Ariane 6 blasted off on its first commercial mission on Thursday, carrying with it the continent’s hopes of bolstering its security and independent access to space.
After several delays including a last-minute postponement on Monday, the rocket carrying a French military satellite launched from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana just before 1:30pm local time.
The high-profile mission comes as Europe seeks to strengthen its defences amid doubts it can still rely on the United States as a security partner under new US President Donald Trump.
A successful mission would mean that Europe can independently put large satellites into orbit for the first time since Russia pulled its heavy Soyuz rockets after invading Ukraine in 2022. The launch was progressing normally, with the main stage separating from the rocket, according to an online broadcast from its operator, French firm Arianespace.
The rocket is expected to reach orbit an hour and six minutes after launch. A previous attempt on Monday was called off just 30 minutes before launching due to a dysfunctional valve on one of the refuelling pipes, Arianespace said.
Previous attempts to launch the mission in December and February were also scrubbed. Postponed launches are common for new rockets. The latest test flight of the world’s biggest rocket, SpaceX’s Starship, is also scheduled for launch later Thursday after a last-minute postponement on Monday.
‘Europe must ensure its own security’
Ariane 6 was initially scheduled to have its first flight in 2020, but repeated delays meant the rocket did not blast off for the first time until July last year. Its first commercial mission is to put the CSO-3 satellite into orbit at an altitude of around 800 kilometres above Earth.
CSO-3 has been waiting since 2022 to complete a network of three French military imaging satellites, with the first two launched in 2018 and 2020 on Soyuz rockets. Europe has just 10 military satellites — five French and five Italian — compared to “hundreds” for the United States and China, French General Philippe Steininger said.
“Europe must ensure its own security,” the European Space Agency’s space transportation director Toni Tolker-Nielsen said in Kourou earlier this week.
