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They will soon launch ESA's JUICE mission to Europa/Jupiter which will work next to another NASA mission 'Clipper', a great time for space
'Timelapse magic'
https://twitter.com/esa_sts/status/1640331719440990211
JUICE will be lofted into space by the European heavy-lift Ariane rocket, this Ariane has served the European space industry since 1996. JUICE should arrive at Jupiter just at the end of NASA's Juno mission. However, another NASA mission, Clipper, set to launch next year, will also arrive at the Jupiter system studying the icy ocean moon Europa, many scientists regard the Moon Europa as one of the solar system's best bets to host alien life, maybe even better than Mars.
...but...
Europe has a gap.
La Guyane française is a unique site, Kourou is not ESA, firstly it is France territory but France as an ESA member has dominated the European launch business. Does France concern itself about replacing this missing rocket or Perhaps the French might be distracted by political protests back home. Kourou is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America, it did operate the medium sized Soyuz and Light Vega, the Ariane-5 was their Heavy Vehicle. The French will use Ariane-6 but they have no Super-Heavy plans like SLS, Musk or China. There are others doing rockets in Europe but they are small like Spanish or the thousands of Norwegian sounding rockets for Meteorology. There are many other commercial companies growing such as Relativity Space and Rocket Lab a United States company with a Launch Complex in New Zealand. The payload Europe is missing is 'Soyuz' sized, similar to the family of Atlas III to V or India ISRO Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or GSLV, China's Tianlong or Zhuque, Falcon family, Minotaur IV, New Glenn, Vulcan, Zenit, Angara, Japan Mitsubishi H3, Antares Taurus rocket or Boeing's Delta II.
Almost all others have medium launch sites, Europe has none.
Arianespace expects the first Ariane 6 launch to occur in the fourth quarter of 2023, this rocket has yet to fly and already has Sun–Earth, GTO or trans lunar payloads and contracts booked until year 2035.
Kourou is near the equator the larger the ground speed, the less work a rocket needs to do and this sometimes drives setting up launch sites towards the equator.
medium-lift launch vehicle or MLV is a rocket launch vehicle that is capable of lifting between 2,000 to 20,000 kg (4,400 to 44,100 lb) by NASA classification or between 5,000 to 20,000 kilograms (11,000 to 44,000 lb) by Russian classification of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). An MLV is between small-lift launch vehicles and heavy-lift launch vehicles
PDF
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/500393main_TA01 … 2010-A.pdf
,
Russian definition
https://web.archive.org/web/20201025021 … xt/3492657
The Past Four Months Have Been Rough on Rockets—Especially New Ones
https://gizmodo.com/the-past-four-month … 1850261031
News from 1 year ago
Arianespace, OneWeb suspend Soyuz launches indefinitely
https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/orga … efinitely/
In response to Russia withdrawing its Soyuz support personnel from Europe’s South American space port, Arianespace has suspended all future launches atop the Russian rocket.
All of this is part of the tit-for-tat fallout in the space industry relating to sanctions on the Russian economy and oligarchs after the country’s unprovoked invasion into Europe’s second largest country, Ukraine.
On March 4, Arianespace, a French-based company, released a statement saying it was strictly abiding by the sanctions imposed on Russia by the international community, including the European Union, United States and the UK.
“This operation began after the end of the Soviet Union and has been very successful up to now,” the statement reads. “However, it is now challenged by Roscosmos’ unilateral decision to withdraw from [the Guiana Space Center] and suspend all Soyuz launches from Europe’s Spaceport. Readied Soyuz launchers and Galileo satellites are in stable configuration and in security.”
Also part of the statemen was Starsem, a French-Russian company that is co-owned by Arianespace and Roscosmos to operate international commercial Soyuz rockets.
This latest decline in relations comes several days after threats by the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos to not launch OneWeb’s latest batch of internet satellites if its demands weren’t met.
Ariane 5 lofts two large communications satellites into orbit
https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/orga … nto-orbit/
a Medium sized launch vehicle can potentially put a small Lander on Mars or small payload on the Moon, it can put an Orbiter around Venus or Mars. It can be used to test innovative technologies like Ion-Engines.
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-03-28 04:48:55)
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