The New European Rocket: This Week in Space

Europe Returns to Space: Ariane 6 Maiden Flight

After multiple development delays, the European Space Agency's new rocket, Ariane 6, was finally launched into space this week for its maiden flight.Manufactured by Arianespace, the large rocket lifted off from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. While its primary payload was a dummy load, it also deployed several small satellites into orbit. However, despite the smooth start, the mission  encountered a setback and did not end as planned.  Just under three hours after launch, when the rocket's second stage was supposed to initiate re-entry into the atmosphere for controlled destruction to prevent space debris, the control team announced that an "anomaly" occurred — indicating an unexpected issue — as the second stage engine failed to reignite for reasons that were not immediately clear.

Despite the disappointing ending, the European Union expressed satisfaction at reopening the path for European space agencies to independently launch large satellites, including strategic assets such as military observation satellites, communication satellites, and navigation satellites. This path had been interrupted after the last launch of the European agency's previous "workhorse," Ariane 5. Ariane 6 rocket is slightly larger than its predecessor and can carry over ten tons to low Earth orbit and more than 21 tons in its heavy configuration, named ‘Ariane 64’, which is yet to be tested. While primarily aimed for satellites belonging to space agencies and other European entities, the European Space Agency  plans to offer launches to private customers to offset the high development costs, estimated at four billion euros over a decade.

The new rocket already has orders for more than 25 launches, primarily for European projects. For example, eight Ariane 6 launches are scheduled for the coming year, with half dedicated to deploying satellites for the European navigation network, Galileo. However, the decision to invest in this rocket appears driven more by political motives than purely economic ones. Despite being a new model, it faces significant challenges competing with the launch costs of private companies, particularly SpaceX. Unlike current trends favoring reusable rockets, this model is single-use, requiring manufacturing from scratch for each launch without component recycling. While the European Space Agency acknowledges efforts to reduce production costs, its production serves a strategic role in maintaining European investments within the continent rather than fostering direct competition in the launch market.

High costs for a new rocket, despite being considered outdated. The maiden launch of the Ariane 6 rocket from the European spaceport in French Guiana, July 2024:

Chinese Rocket Setbacks

China's substantial investments in the space sector have spurred the growth of private launch companies, but not all have navigated the challenges successfully. One such example is iSpace, which five years ago became China's first private company to achieve orbit with its Hyperbola-1 rocket, powered by solid fuel. This is a relatively small rocket, based on a military rocket, intended to carry a payload of about 300 kilograms to low Earth orbit. However, after the initial success, the company experienced three consecutive launch failures, before bouncing back with two successes last year. However, last week saw another setback with the failure in the  launch of the Hyperbola-1 rocket.  

The rocket was launched from the Jiuquan space base in the Gobi Desert, experiencing a malfunction during its fourth stage. The Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reported the launch failure and noted that the cause of the malfunction is under investigation. Mission objectives and the payload onboard the rocket were not disclosed in any reports.

Despite currently having a negative record of four failures versus only three successful launches, the company is pressing forward with the development of a larger rocket, the Hyperbola-3, which will be powered by methane and oxygen. In November 2023, the company achieved a successful vertical soft landing of the rocket after launching it to a height of 200 meters.

Last week, another private Chinese company, Space Pioneer, experienced a malfunction when a rocket launched accidentally during a test that was intended to assess ground-based engine performance (static firing). Despite these setbacks, the private space sector in China remains undeterred in its progress. New companies continue to emerge, often echoing concepts already explored elsewhere. One of these, Cosmoleap (Dahang Yueqian), established in February this year, recently presented the concept of a methane- and oxygen-powered launch rocket. Designed to deploy stacks of communication satellites into Earth's orbit, the rocket is intended to land vertically and be captured by specialized arms on the launch tower. If this concept reminds anyone of SpaceX's Starship, they likely just have a vivid imagination

Developments that sometimes echo innovations already pursued elsewhere. The rocket concept presented last week by Cosmoleap | Source: Cosmoleap

Long-Term Parking - Boeing's Starliner Extended Stay at the Space Station

Boeing's first manned spacecraft is expected to remain docked at the space station until the end of the month, as Boeing and NASA engineers work to determine the source of the malfunctions that caused five of the spacecraft's thrusters to shut down on its way to the ISS over a month ago.

Steve Stich, NASA's Commercial Crew Program Manager, said in a press conference this week that the issue might be due to overheating in some of the thrusters during the flight. He emphasized that the spacecraft could safely return astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams to Earth in case of an emergency at the space station. However, they prefer to continue ground crew tests examining the thrusters and their systems before approving the continuation of the test flight, which includes undocking from the space station and re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

In any case, it appears that the Starliner spacecraft will need to vacate its docking port at the station by mid-August, to accommodate the arrival of another crew of astronauts aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. The outgoing crew could potentially depart before the incoming crew's arrival to free up the docking port, but this would depart from the usual practice of allowing a few days of overlap between crews. This option will likely be considered only in event of significant safety concerns regarding Boeing's spacecraft.

 Efforts continue to identify the source of the malfunction. Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on its way to dock at the space station | Photo: NASA

The Quartet Returns from Mars 

Manned missions to Mars, if they indeed take place in the coming decades, will last at least close to two years, and possibly much longer. Alongside the engineering and technological challenges of such missions and the significant health challenges of prolonged deep space missions, such missions also present considerable psychological and mental challenges. This week, NASA concluded its analog mission, focused precisely on these challenges. Four carefully selected volunteers, who underwent rigorous astronaut-like screenings, emerged from a Mars simulation facility after more than a year, simulating at least some crucial aspects of future Mars missions.

The crew members of the CHAPEA mission, an acronym for ‘Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog’, spent 378 days confined together in a 3D-printed living facility spanning 158 square meters. The facility included a yard where they simulated surface activities on Mars.. Commanded by Kelly Haston, a biologist specializing in disease research, the team included mission engineer Ross Brockwell, building engineer; mission doctor Nathan Jones, emergency medicine specialist; and crew scientist Anca Selariu, microbiologist in the U.S. Navy. They coped with limited communication with the control center due to time delays caused by the simulated distance from Earth, preventing real-time solutions to various problems. They sustained themselves with pre-packaged food and cultivated a small supply of fresh vegetables. They also dealt with mission-related challenges and conducted experiments and research. The primary test was to maintain crew activity throughout the mission, managing and overcoming tensions and pressures, and maintaining a productive work routine.

More spacious than a spacecraft, but confinement for over a year poses challenges. A brief tour of the CHAPEA-1 mission complex:

"CHAPEA-1 has been a unique experience, with great challenges, joys and sorrows and a lot of hard work, with a fair bit of fun thrown in as well," summed up Mission Commander Haston after exiting the complex at the Space Center in Houston. "Being away on a one-year Mars analog brought me closer to those I was with and those I left back at home," she added.

“We planned the last 378 days with many of the challenges crews could face on Mars and this crew dedicated their lives over that time to achieve these unprecedented operational objectives,” summarized CHAPEA Principal Investigator Grace Douglas. “I am looking forward to diving into the data we have gathered, preparing for CHAPEA Mission 2 and eventually, a human presence on Mars.”

NASA plans two more missions of similar scale to expand their dataset and knowledge base, with the first scheduled for next year. “Through the Artemis missions, we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "The CHAPEA missions are critical to developing the knowledge and tools needed for humans to one day live and work on the Red Planet.”

 Celebrating a year-long mission at completion. The conclusion event of the CHAPEA-1 mission and the team's exit from the complex: