Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket completes launch rehearsal

Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket completed a launch rehearsal to meet the first launch test date, confirmed the European Space Agency (ESA) on Thursday.

ESA Director General, Josef Aschbacher said that the organization will track the progress achieved after the successful hot firing test on November 23 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, Fench Guiana.

Ariane 6 rocket launch rehearsal

Ariane 6 rocket went through a successful full-scale rehearsal in preparation for its first flight once ArianeGroup, France’s space agency CNES and ESA. The test included the ignition of the core stage Vulcain 2.1 engine, followed by a seven-minute full firing of the core stage’s engine.

According to ESA, the new Ariane 6 is based on Ariane 5 as the next heavy-weight launch vehicle. The upper stage has been redesigned to carry important payloads such as satellites. For now, ESA is relying on SpaceX to carry out such missions.