It seems Europe’s long-anticipated Ariane 6 rocket will continue to enjoy the luxuries of Earth a little longer, as the European Space Agency confirmed this week that its inaugural flight has been delayed yet again, this time until the second quarter of 2024. The rocket, once billed as the worthy successor to Ariane 5 and a symbol of European autonomy in space, has instead become a polite but persistent occupant of the “not quite ready yet” category of launch vehicles.
The delay comes despite a successful hot fire test of the Ariane 6’s Vulcain 2.1 main engine back in November, which officials hailed as a critical milestone even as it failed to catapult the entire rocket into space. Officials say a full launch dress rehearsal is still needed, where the rocket goes through all the motions of liftoff without actually leaving the pad, rather like rehearsing for a wedding but deciding to remain single for a bit longer.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, displaying the kind of optimism seen in weathermen who predict clear blue skies during a hurricane, stated that the agency is now “entering the home stretch” for Ariane 6, a stretch that is beginning to resemble something closer to a detour. Meanwhile, discussions with potential commercial customers continue, despite the somewhat awkward fact that the rocket remains more PowerPoint-friendly than space-ready.
The Ariane 6 program has faced a number of delays over the years, a few related to design changes and technical challenges, and others linked to the global pandemic, which is now becoming a rather tired excuse for projects that might have been running late regardless. ESA and ArianeGroup, the prime contractor, maintain they are on track to complete the launch this year, though they have declined to define “on track” with any alarming specificity.
Originally scheduled to debut in 2020, Ariane 6 has managed to stretch the definition of “imminent” in a way that only government-led aerospace efforts can, all while its American counterparts continue launching rockets with the frequency of pizza deliveries. SpaceX, for example, recently celebrated its 80th Falcon 9 launch of the year while Ariane 6 continues to test its engines like a nervous actor fidgeting before opening night.
The stakes are not small. Without Ariane 6 operational, Europe currently lacks an independent means of launching large payloads while Russia’s war in Ukraine has effectively removed Soyuz from the menu and Vega C, another European launch vehicle, remains grounded following a failed mission in 2022. For the time being, Europe finds itself admiring the stars from a safe distance, clutching its blueprints a little tighter.
While ESA promises that all will be ready “soon,” the precise definition of soon remains ambiguously nestled somewhere between optimism and ambiguity, otherwise known as the standard operating zone for large multinational engineering projects.
After all, nothing says space age quite like another round of paperwork and a few more PowerPoint slides.