Ariane 6

European launch vehicle

Key facts

Function: A62: Medium-lift launch vehicle A64: Heavy-lift launch vehicle
Manufacturer: ArianeGroup
Country of origin: European multi-national
Project cost: € 3.7 billion
Cost per launch: A62: €100 million (2024 estimated</span>"}]]}'>est. ) A64: €115 million (2018 estimated</span>"}]]}'>est. )
Height: 63 m (207 ft)
Diameter: 5.4 m (18 ft)
Mass: A62: 530,000 kg (1,170,000 lb) A64: 860,000 kg (1,900,000 lb)
Orbital inclination: 6°
Family: Ariane
Based on: Ariane 5
Comparable: Angara A5 Falcon 9 Falcon Heavy H3 Long March 5 LVM3 Soyuz-2 Vulcan Centaur

~28 min read

Article

Ariane 6 ( French: [aʁjan sis]) is a European expendable launch system developed for the European Space Agency (ESA) and French Space Agency (CNES) and manufactured by a consortium of European companies, led by the prime contractor ArianeGroup. As part of the Ariane rocket family, it is operated by Arianespace, replacing the Ariane 5. The project's primary contributors were France (55.3%), Germany (21%) and Italy (7.6%), with the remaining work distributed among ten other participating countries.

This two-stage rocket utilizes liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (hydrolox) engines. The first stage features an upgraded Vulcain engine from Ariane 5, while the second uses the Vinci engine, designed specifically for this rocket. The Ariane 62 variant uses two P120C solid rocket boosters, while Ariane 64 uses four. The P120C booster is shared with Europe's other launch vehicle, and is an improved version of the P80 used on the original Vega.