The huge rocket prepares to launch into the sky

Europe’s new big rocket, Ariane-6, will make its inaugural flight later.

The vehicle will launch from French Guiana on a demonstration mission to put a cluster of satellites into orbit.

Developed at a cost of €4bn (£3.4bn), Ariane-6 is intended to be a workhorse rocket that gives European governments and companies access to space, independent of the rest of the world.

It already has a large number of launch contracts, but there are concerns that its design may limit future prospects.

Like its predecessor, the Ariane-5, the new model is expendable – a new rocket is needed for each mission, while the latest US vehicles are being built to be fully or partially reusable.

However, European space officials believe Ariane-6 can carve out a place for itself.

“This is a big moment,” said the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher.

“Daily life today really depends on information from satellites, from telecommunications and Earth observation to weather forecasting and disaster management. It is inconceivable that Europe would not have guaranteed and independent access to space,” he told BBC News. .

Liftoff from the equatorial spaceport Kourou is scheduled to occur during a four-hour window, starting at 15:00 local time (20:00 CEST; 19:00 BST).

On the surface, the 6 looks very similar to the old 5, but under the skin it uses the latest manufacturing techniques (3D printing, friction welding, augmented reality design, etc.) that should result in faster and cheaper production.

Ariane-6 will operate in two configurations:

• The “62” will incorporate two solid fuel side boosters for lifting medium loads.
• The “64” will have four belt boosters to lift the heaviest satellites on the market

The core stage is supplemented by a second, or upper, stage that will place the payloads in their precise orbits high above the Earth.

This phase can be stopped and restarted several times, which is useful when launching large groups of satellites in a constellation or network. The reboot capability also allows the scene to be pulled back to Earth so it doesn’t become a piece of space debris.

Tuesday’s mission will use the Ariane-62 variant. The rocket will climb to an altitude of 580 km before starting to unload payloads in free flight.

These are a mix of university and commercial spacecraft. They include two capsules that will try to survive a fiery fall through the atmosphere to splash up in the Pacific.

One of the capsules, called Nyx Bikini, is a small-scale demonstrator from a Franco-German company that eventually aims to develop spacecraft that can transport supplies and people to and from space stations in Earth orbit.

Inaugural flights are always high-risk occasions. It is not uncommon for a new missile design to fail.

Ariane-5 spectacularly exploded 37 seconds after liftoff on its debut in 1996. The loss was put down to an error in the control software.

But a revised rocket then returned to dominate the commercial launch market for the world’s largest satellites. This dominance was only broken in the 2010s by American entrepreneur Elon Musk and his reusable Falcon-9 rockets.

Falcon flight rates and prices undercut Ariane-5 competition.

Europe is moving towards reuse, but the necessary technologies won’t be in service until the 2030s. And meanwhile, Mr. Musk is introducing even bigger rockets that promise to reduce startup costs even further.

Therefore, Ariane-6 enters a very challenging environment.

“We can all have our opinions. What I can reaffirm is that we have an order book that is full,” said Lucia Linares, who heads space transport strategy at Esa.

“I think the word here goes to the customers: They have said that Ariane-6 is an answer to their needs.”

There are launch contracts to see the missile through its first three years of operation. These include 18 launches for another American billionaire, Jeff Bezos, who wants to create a constellation of Internet satellites he calls Kuiper.

European officials aim for Ariane-6 to fly roughly once a month.

If this flight rate can be achieved, then the rocket should be able to deploy, commented Pierre Lionnet of space consultancy ASD Eurospace.

“First, we have to make sure there is enough demand from European customers – the European institutional ones. Then Ariane just needs to get some commercial customers beyond Kuiper. That would give it a market,” he told BBC News.

“But it’s a price issue. If Falcon-9 is systematically below the Ariane-6 bid price, there will be a problem.”

Ariane-6 is a project of 13 ESA member countries, led by France (56%) and Germany (21%). The 13 partners have pledged subsidy payments of up to €340m (£295m) a year to support the early phase of Ariane-6 exploitation.

The UK was a key player from the start of Europe’s launch program and remains an ESA member state, but its direct involvement in Ariane ended when the Ariane-4 model was retired in 2003.

Some UK companies continue to supply components on a commercial basis and some British-built spacecraft will undoubtedly continue to fly on Ariane.