This launch is the first of 18 planned for Ariane 6. On board were 32 Amazon Leo satellites for Jeff Bezos’ Project Kuiper. They are to be part of a global network for internet coverage and will increase competition with SpaceX’s Starlink.
This is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to Bloomberg.
This version of the Ariane 64 rocket with four boosters can put into low Earth orbit more than 20 tons of payload, which is twice as much as the previous version Ariane 62.
“Ariane 6 is not just iron, it is a symbol of Europe’s space independence and its ability to compete in the commercial market,” industry experts said.
For the European Space Agency (ESA), this success is a strategic triumph after a series of technical challenges in the past.
Now 17 more planned missions lie ahead, aiming to deploy a constellation of 3,200 satellites and challenge SpaceX’s dominance of the global space internet.
