Enlarge / Under the stars with the Ariane 6 launch base at Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. (credit: ESA)
The European Space Agency posted an update Friday on the status of its flagship rocket, the Ariane 6 vehicle. While the space agency did not provide a concrete launch target for the rocket's debut flight, it shared information on key milestones to be completed, including a test firing of the rocket's first stage in French Guiana.
Even without an updated launch date, it can reasonably be inferred from the new information that the Ariane 6 rocket will not launch this year. The question now is how far the debut of the much-anticipated rocket will slip into 2024.
Here's why: During a news conference in October 2022, the director general of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, laid out the pathway for the Ariane 6 rocket to make its debut in 2023. "There are three very big milestones ahead of us that need to be accomplished by the first quarter of 2023 in order for the inaugural flight by the end of next year," he said at the time.
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