Europe hopes to end 'launcher crisis' with planned Ariane 6 takeoff

The rocket is scheduled for a test flight on Tuesday 9 July between 8 pm and 12 midnight European time, but has faced several holdups along the way.

Transcript

00:00An important moment for European space sovereignty.

00:04After several years of delays, the Ariane 6 rocket is making its inaugural flight.

00:10Since the retirement of Ariane 5 a year ago, Europe had been unable to put satellites into

00:14orbit.

00:15The pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and various technical problems delayed Ariane 6's completion

00:22and plunged Europe into a space crisis.

00:26Europe again gets access to space, we did not have it for one year, and this is why

00:31last year I called the launch a crisis, just to make everyone aware how important it is

00:37to have access to space, to have data from our satellites on which we depend every single

00:43day, and this is fundamental for Europe.

00:49Delays have led companies like the European Weather Satellite Organization to choose Elon

00:53Musk's private company SpaceX, a competitor of the European Space Agency, to launch one

00:58of its weather prediction devices.

01:02The director-general of EU Metsat Phil Evans said the decision to use SpaceX was a result

01:07of exceptional circumstances and that they will continue to support their European partners.

01:14Despite this first setback, the future of Ariane 6 already has up to 30 orders, 18 of

01:19them which are the Amazon Kuiper's constellations.

01:23According to analysts, the launch is a first step in Europe's space strategy.

01:30The launcher at the end of the day is a means to an end, and the end is really increasing

01:35our ambition in using space, and using space obviously to the benefit of European citizens

01:41and European policymakers.

01:44Ariane 6 is the first new European model in 30 years.

01:4813 European countries were involved in its development, and it cost 4 billion Euros.