The already much-delayed launch date for Europe’s giant heavy lift Ariane 6 rocket has again been delayed. Arianespace officials and the European Space Agency (ESA) said in the summer they were working towardsa December 2024 launch.
But on November 8th, Arianespace announced that the rocket would not launch until Q1 2025 and “from mid-February.”
As recently as September, Stéphane Israël, chief executive of Arianespace, said it expected that the Ariane 6 launch to take place in December.
Josef Aschbacher, director general of ESA, speaking on October 24th, said, “I can assure you we are on a good track for the next launches.”
Steven Rutgers, CCO at Arianespace, said in September that Arianespace expected to carry out six Ariane 6 launches in 2025.
There must now be doubts over that schedule, although the rocket company says that its planned launch timetable would not be affected. As yet, it has not published a launch manifest for 2025.
ESA carried out a test flight for the rocket in July this year. There were a few minor anomalies which Arianespace says have been ironed out.
It is worth remembering that Ariane 6, a replacement for the highly-successful Ariane 5 version, was due to make its debut flight in 2020. Ariane 6 was designed to halve launch costs and increase annual capacity from seven to eleven missions compared to its predecessor.
