Ariane-6 rocket blasts off on maiden flight

The vehicle set off from a launchpad in French Guiana on a demonstration mission to put a clutch of satellites in orbit.

"This is a historic moment. The inaugural launch of a new heavy-lift rocket doesn't happen every year; it happens only every 20 years or maybe 30 years. And today we have launched Ariane-6 successfully," said Josef Aschbacher, the director general of ESA (the European Space Agency).

A6 Launch Control Center

A celebration of this launch took place at GTD's Barcelona and Kourou offices. It has taken our engineers almost 10 years to develop the computer systems of the launch control room as well as all 'board-ground' interconnections necessary for the preparation, configuration, and takeoff of the launcher.

There is a high level of criticality associated with these real-time computer systems. They have all worked as expected. Our mission now will be to increase the launch frequency in the coming months until we reach a rate of 14 launches per year.

Currently, our Guyana teams are working on the second launch scheduled for September/October. Our customer Arianespace have already launch contracts to take the rocket through its first three years of operations.

These include 18 launches for another US billionaire, Jeff Bezos, who wants to establish a constellation of internet satellites he calls Kuiper.

Mission control Room (powered by GTD) Ariane-6 is a project of 13 member states of ESA. The 13 partners have promised subsidy payments of up to €340m a year to support the early phase of Ariane-6 exploitation.