The last flight of the Ariane 5 rocket, postponed on June 15 due to an anomaly, is scheduled for July 4 from Kourou in French Guiana, Arianespace announced Friday.
This 117th and last flight of the European rocket, which says goodbye after 27 years of service, will put into orbit a French military communications satellite (Syracuse 4B) and a German experimental satellite. The shooting window is scheduled between 21:30 and 23:05 GMT.
The technicians replaced the three pyrotechnic lines at the origin of the last report and checked all these lines, Arianespace explained.
The pyrotechnic lines in question are involved in the separation of the rocket propellants. Boosters are solid propellants that help lift the rocket off the ground and are then dropped in flight.
Soon Ariane 6
This final flight comes at a low period for Europe in space, all but deprived of independent access to space pending the takeover from Ariane 6, as competition continues in the launcher market dominated by US SpaceX.
In question: the brutal end of the exploitation of Russian Soyuz rockets, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which sank the activity of the Kourou base.
A situation aggravated by the failure of the first commercial launch of the Italian Vega C light launcher, in December 2022, and the accumulated delays of the Ariane 6 whose maiden flight will take place at best at the end of 2023.
Following the last flight of the Ariane 5, there will only be a Vega launch in September on the European schedule and a probable return to flight of the Vega-C later in the year.
Source: BFM TV
