Esa space transportation director confident ahead of Ariane launch
Published: Tuesday, Jul 9th 2024, 10:50
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Shortly before the maiden flight of the new European launcher Ariane 6, the space transportation director of the European Space Agency Esa, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, is optimistic. Tolker-Nielsen said at the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, that he was 96 percent confident and 4 percent deeply frightened.
"We have done everything that needed to be done. Now we have to launch," added Tolker-Nielsen. Ariane 6 is scheduled to fly into space for the first time between 8 p.m. and midnight Swiss time.
With the first flight, Esa also wants to put the crisis in the launch vehicle sector, in which Europe's space sector is currently mired, behind it. Europe currently has no means of its own to launch satellites into space.
The head of Esa, Josef Aschbacher, was correspondingly enthusiastic on the short message service X. "Ariane 6 will take Europe into space," he wrote in a photo showing him next to the rocket. "I'm feeling all kinds of emotions as we prepare to impact European history, the future of Europe and generations of Europeans."
Ariane 6 is a European project. Switzerland is also involved. If everything goes well on the maiden flight, the comeback will have begun, said Tolker-Nielsen. However, it would then be necessary to ramp up production capacities and achieve a stable take-off rhythm. Aschbacher also explained: "This is just the first step, we still have a lot of work ahead of us."
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