Europe’s future Ariane 6 launcher will go through a full-scale rehearsal on Thursday at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, in preparation for its first flight, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
Teams from the ArianeGroup, France’s space agency CNES, and ESA will be involved in the test, which will include firing the launcher’s core-stage Vulcain 2.1 engine, followed by a 470-second stabilised operation.
The eight-minute trial will reenact how the Ariane 6 core stage will fire during a normal flight into space. Conducted with a test model on the launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, it will be the longest full run yet for Ariane 6’s lower liquid propulsion module equipped with the Vulcain 2.1 engine, the ESA said.
The test can be followed live on ESA Web TV, the ESA announced in a press release on Thursday. The engine will be ignited at 21:00 CET but TV coverage will begin 20 minutes before and continue five minutes after the core-stage operation, once the engine burns through all its propellant, the space agency said.
For this rehearsal, the boosters will not be ignited, so Ariane 6 will stay firmly on the launch pad at the Spaceport.
