The European Space Agency (ESA) signed with Airbus Safran Launchers the development contract of the future European launcher Ariane 6, which is to replace the current Ariane 5 for 2020, amounting to 2.4 billion euros.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed with Airbus Safran Launchers the development contract of the future European launcher Ariane 6, which is to replace the current Ariane 5 for 2020, amounting to 2.4 billion euros.
“This contract will fund the development work for the launcher Ariane 6 and its industrialization,” says the joint venture of Airbus and Safran. The first flight of Ariane 6 is provided for “2020” and its “full operational capability in 2023,” she said in a statement.
ESA added in a separate statement it had, besides the contract Ariane 6, those signed on the development of the launch base of the European launcher and that of Vega-C, the evolution of Vega small launcher ESA.
Safran signed with Airbus Launchers (ASL), CNES (French Space Agency) and ELV (European Launch Vehicle), the contracts “cover all the development work of Ariane 6 and its launch base in the prospect of a maiden flight in 2020, and those of Vega-C, for a first launch in 2018, “says ESA.
Their amounts are as follows: 2.4 billion euros for Ariane 6 (ASL), 600 million for the entire launch (CNES) and 395 million for Vega-C (ELV), according to the European Space Agency.
