Azernews.Az

By Alimat Aliyeva

Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket reached another major milestone today, AzerNEWS reports, citing foreign media.

The most powerful variant of the Ariane 6 — known as the Ariane 64, featuring four strap-on solid rocket boosters — lifted off for the first time on February 12. The launch took place from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 11:45 a.m. EST (1645 GMT; 1:45 p.m. local time), carrying 32 satellites for the Amazon Leo constellation into low Earth orbit (LEO). All satellites were successfully deployed 1 hour and 54 minutes after liftoff, as planned, according to Arianespace, the company that operates the Ariane 6.

This was the sixth overall launch of the Ariane 6. Standing 203 feet (62 meters) tall, the rocket — the successor to the recently retired Ariane 5 — had its maiden test flight in July 2024 and completed four operational missions last year. However, those previous flights all used the Ariane 62, which carries two solid rocket boosters. The Ariane 64 can haul more than 20 metric tons to LEO, roughly double the payload capacity of the 62.

Today’s launch marked several firsts: it was the Ariane 6’s first mission for a commercial customer, the first flight of the 64 variant, and the first to use the rocket’s jumbo 65-foot-long (20-meter-long) payload fairing.

The Amazon Leo constellation will eventually consist of over 3,200 satellites, deployed across more than 80 launches using a variety of rockets, including Falcon 9, Atlas V, Vulcan Centaur, New Glenn, and the Ariane 6.

Today’s flight was the eighth in the Amazon Leo deployment phase (excluding an October 2023 mission that launched two prototype satellites), bringing the total number of satellites in orbit to 185. Experts say that with the Ariane 64 now operational, Europe’s space program has gained a powerful new tool to compete in the growing global commercial launch market — combining heavy-lift capacity with reliable deployment for massive constellations.