The last flight of the European rocket Ariane 5, postponed on June 15 due to an anomaly, is scheduled for July 4 from Kourou in French Guiana, Arianespace announced on Friday.
This 117th and final flight of the European rocket, which bids farewell after 27 years of service, is to place a French military communications satellite (Syracuse 4B) and an experimental German satellite into orbit. The shooting window is scheduled between 9:30 p.m. and 11:05 p.m. GMT.
The technicians replaced the three pyrotechnic lines at the origin of the last report and checked all of these lines, explained Arianespace.
The pyrotechnic lines in question are involved in the separation of the boosters from the rocket. Boosters are solid propellants that help lift the rocket off the ground, and are then dropped in flight.
This final flight comes in a low period for space Europe, almost deprived of independent access to space pending the relay of Ariane 6, while competition rages on the launcher market dominated by the American SpaceX.
In question: the brutal end of the exploitation of Russian Soyuz rockets, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which plunged the activity of the Kourou base.
A situation aggravated by the failure of the first commercial launch of the Italian light launcher Vega C, in December 2022, and the cumulative delays of Ariane 6 whose maiden flight will take place in the best of cases at the end of 2023.
After the last Ariane 5 flight, there will only be a launch of Vega in September on the European program and a probable return to flight of Vega-C at the end of the year.