Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace since 2013 and member of the Executive Committee of ArianeGroup since 2017, will leave the Group on December 31st “to pursue a new career opportunity in January 2025” according to a statement from the rocket company. He is being replaced by David Cavaillolès who will join the Group in January […]

The already much-delayed launch date for Europe’s giant heavy lift Ariane 6 rocket has again been delayed. Arianespace officials and the European Space Agency (ESA) said in the summer they were working towards a December 2024 launch. But on November 8th, Arianespace announced that the rocket would not launch until Q1 2025 and “from mid-February”. […]

In “early April” the European Space Agency (ESA) expects to integrate the second booster stage onto the giant Ariane 6 rocket in readiness for the craft’s crucial inaugural flight from French Guiana. The debut flight is scheduled for between June 15th – July 31st. This pre-flight work is important and it is crucial that the […]

The launch of Europe’s scientific and commercial satellites has in general been handled by rockets from Arianespace. Currently, the company’s latest rocket, Ariane 6, is very late with its readiness and its first (non-test) flight will not happen – at best – until next winter. The delay has prompted a very direct criticism by the […]

Government members of the European Space Agency (ESA) have agreed to fund an extra €340 million per year to Arianespace for its planned Ariane 6 rocket currently in development. The cash is needed to pay for the non-activity of Arianespace because its new rocket is extremely late. An inaugural test flight for Ariane 6 is […]

Airbus and Safran, who between them control ArianeGroup, are asking for an additional €210 million – over and above the €140 million a year it already receives – in order to operate the Arianespace rocket system. The news was revealed by Europe in Space and France’s La Tribune newspaper. The problem for ArianeGroup is that […]

Ariane 6, the giant replacement rocket for the European Space Agency (ESA), is already delayed until the end of 2024. Now the ESA says that is medium-lift rocket, Vega-C, is also delayed until Q4/2024. The news means that Europe doesn’t have a working rocket to launch commercial, scientific or military satellites, other than two remaining […]

The already much-delayed debut launch of Ariane 6 rocket is to be further delayed. A briefing by the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that maiden flight is not now likely until the middle of 2024. The delays are likely to push the rocket’s first commercial launch towards the end of 2024. The original schedule called […]

Arianespace will launch its final Ariane 5 rocket on June 16th. The mission aims to launch two satellites: Syracuse 4B, built by Airbus Defence and Space for a French government defence role, and the Heinrich-Hertz-Mission, built by OHB for the German space agency DLR. The flight represents the end of the Ariane 5, a system […]

The European Space Agency (ESA) has issued an update to its timetable for the debut launch of its new Ariane 6 launch vehicle. The update came from a Ariane 6 Launcher Task Force set up with ESA’s top management, the launch base prime contractor (CNES), the rocket’s builder ArianeGroup, and service provider Arianespace. But the […]