PARIS (AP) — Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket is scheduled to make a powerful debut with a new equipment configuration Thursday, flying with four boosters to carry Amazon’s internet satellites.
The launch will take place at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
The flagship of Europe’s rocket industry is competing in a highly competitive global market against heavyweight players, including Elon Musk’s market leader SpaceX.
Here’s a look at the Ariane 6 rocket’s technology by the numbers:
4
For the first time, the rocket is equipped with four boosters around its core stage, giving it the name Ariane 64.
Their role is to provide extra thrust, allowing the rocket to carry about 21.6 metric tons (23.8 tons) into low Earth orbit, which is more than double what it can lift with just two boosters.
The boosters consume 142,000 kilograms (313,056 pounds) of solid propellant in just over two minutes before burning out.
5
Ariane 6 has completed five flights using two boosters — all successful — including its maiden launch in July 2024. Thursday’s launch will be the sixth and the first with a commercial customer.
Last year, the European rocket focused on institutional missions, placing into orbit a French military reconnaissance satellite, a French weather satellite and European Union-sponsored Earth observation radar and navigation satellites.
13
The Ariane 6 programme is backed by 13 nations, all members of the European Space Agency.
Building the rocket requires the expertise and coordination of about 600 subcontractors led by ArianeGroup. The core stage is assembled in Les Mureaux, west of Paris, while the upper stage is built in a factory in Bremen, Germany. There are roughly 300,000 pieces in one rocket.
The core stage, the upper stage and the boosters cross the Atlantic to French Guiana on a cargo ship equipped with sails to reduce emissions and save fuel.
Ariane 64 is 62 meters (203 feet) high with a core stage of 5.4 meters (17.7 feet) wide.
32
Thursday’s mission is set to place 32 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit.
Amazon launched its first internet satellites in 2025 as the company seeks to become a key player in the mega-constellation market currently dominated by SpaceX’s thousands of Starlink satellites.
Founded by Jeff Bezos, who runs his own rocket company, Blue Origin, Amazon aims to deploy more than 3,200 of the satellites to provide fast, affordable broadband service around the globe.
1 hour and 54 minutes
The mission is expected to last 1 hour, 54 minutes, from liftoff to separation of all satellites.
In addition to its boosters, Ariane 6 is powered by one main engine at the base of its core stage that uses supercooled hydrogen and oxygen as fuel.
A second engine ignites once the upper stage escapes Earth’s gravity, placing the satellites into their precise orbits. It can re-ignite up to four times in flight.
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