Ariane 6 hot-fires: the highlights

Cinq, quatre, trois, deux, un. Allumage Vulcain! That is the second Ariane 6’s major engine was sparked into life, and the whole major stage of the brand new rocket and the various components of the launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana, practised for the complete period of a launch. After all, as deliberate, the take a look at mannequin didn’t go away the bottom.

With out its boosters, as an alternative of piercing the clouds Ariane 6’ created its personal on Earth: a clear byproduct of the Vulcain 2.1 engine’s oxygen and hydrogen propellants, which got here collectively to ship out spectacular swirls of H2O.

After the virtually 150 tonnes of propellant was burnt by and the clouds dispersed, the curtains closed on the profitable rehearsal. The information from hundreds of screens across the rocket shall be crunched within the coming weeks to study all that’s wanted for Ariane’s subsequent, actual, flight.

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