Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
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Re: Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
#2Ariane 6 exists so that European countries can get independent access to space between now and 2030s.
The launch cost is almost 2x the cost of Falcon 9. Both platforms can lift 22t to LEO.
6-10 years from now Ariane Next/SALTO will aims replicate Falcon 9 efficiency and the design will be very similar: reusable, RP-1/LOX, Prometheus engine is similar reusable open cycle engine as Merlin with lots of 3D printed parts.
Re: Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
#3| Nevertheless, it had several passengers on board.
"passengers" → "payloads", I assume.
Re: Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
#4I’m happy it exists but it’s incredibly disappointing how non competitive it is. There was a lot of hubris in the project in the beginning and now it’s clear that they are years behind. Which in turn makes future funding a challenge I’m sure.
I really hope they don’t give up and manage become more ambitious.
Re: Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
#5Ariane 6 exists so that European countries can get independent access to space between now and 2030s. The launch cost is almost 2x the cost of Falcon 9. Both platforms can lift 22t to LEO. 6-10 years from now Ariane Next/SALTO will aims replicate Falcon 9 efficiency and the design will be very similar: reusable, RP-1/LOX, Prometheus engine is similar reusable open cycle engine as Merlin with lots of 3D printed parts.
By then, startship would have lowered cost even further.
Re: Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
#6I’m happy it exists but it’s incredibly disappointing how non competitive it is. There was a lot of hubris in the project in the beginning and now it’s clear that they are years behind. Which in turn makes future funding a challenge I’m sure. I really hope they don’t give up and manage become more ambitious.
Funding hard to lose when the end result is needed and is a strategic objective. Not funding it would make the EU depend on others and knowledge would be lost.
Interesting to think about a way how these perfectly connected people could be exchanged to some new, pragmatic generation.
Re: Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
#7Ariane 6 exists so that European countries can get independent access to space between now and 2030s. The launch cost is almost 2x the cost of Falcon 9. Both platforms can lift 22t to LEO. 6-10 years from now Ariane Next/SALTO will aims replicate Falcon 9 efficiency and the design will be very similar: reusable, RP-1/LOX, Prometheus engine is similar reusable open cycle engine as Merlin with lots of 3D printed parts.
You're quite right, but for apples-to-apples you should compare to NASA rather than SpaceX. "Move fast and break things" is an attitide that only relatively new rocket builders can have.
Re: Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
#8Ariane 6 exists so that European countries can get independent access to space between now and 2030s. The launch cost is almost 2x the cost of Falcon 9. Both platforms can lift 22t to LEO. 6-10 years from now Ariane Next/SALTO will aims replicate Falcon 9 efficiency and the design will be very similar: reusable, RP-1/LOX, Prometheus engine is similar reusable open cycle engine as Merlin with lots of 3D printed parts.
> The launch cost is almost 2x the cost of Falcon 9.
I bet it will be a lot more than that.
Re: Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
#9Even though this is not impressive compared to SpaceX, it is still essential that we have multiple actors building rockets. The competition makes sure that SpaceX needs to push the boundaries. Our future as a multi-planetary species is not dependent on a single actor.
I'm hoping for some space race. It would be great if the United States would transfer a part of MIC funding to space exploration.
Re: Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, made its inaugural flight
#10Unfortunately the mission didn't perform smoothly as intended at the end, there was an issue with the auxiliary power unit and it wasn't able to de-orbit once deployed the cubesats: