On 17 June 2026 at 09:21 local time (13:21 BST, 14:21 CEST), Ariane 6 flight VA269 soared to orbit from Europe\u2019s Spaceport in French Guiana. 36 satellites for Amazon\u2019s Leo constellation left Earth powered by four P160C-based boosters, the first time these upgraded boosters were used \u2013 making this launch the most powerful so far for Europe\u2019s heavy-lift rocket.<\/p>\n
This shot was captured from a camera placed at the top of the mobile hangar that protects Ariane 6 as it is assembled on the launch pad. Hours before launch it rolls away so Ariane 6 can blast off into space.\u00a0The debut of the four new boosters based on the P160C solid-propellant rocket motor allowed 36 Leo satellites to be launched \u2013 four more than the two Leo launches Ariane 6 has delivered before.<\/p>\n
The P160C solid-rocket motor holds 156 tonnes of propellant, 14 tonnes more than its predecessor P120C and is 14.5 m tall. In the runup to an Ariane 6 launch the P160C motor is turned into an Ariane 6 booster by adding aerodynamic fairing and other hardware such as connections specific for Ariane 6. Although P160C is a meter taller than the P120C motor, the additional height does not affect the connection to Ariane\u00a06\u2019s central core nor the height of the Ariane 6 booster as there is room in the fairing to accommodate the height increase.<\/p>\n
Ariane 6 is the latest rocket in a long history of launchers to fly from\u00a0Europe\u2019s Spaceport in French Guiana \u2013 demonstrating the power of multinational cooperation for over five decades.\u00a0Ariane 6 is Europe\u2019s heavy-lift\u00a0launcher and a key element of ESA\u2019s efforts to ensure autonomous access to space for Europe\u2019s citizens. Its modular and versatile design allows it to launch all types of missions, from low-Earth orbit to deep space. The new P160C boosters\u00a0increase considerably performance, payload capacity and competitiveness, allowing for more satellites to be launched, further elevating the future of Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On 17 June 2026 at 09:21 local time (13:21 BST, 14:21 CEST), Ariane 6 flight VA269 soared to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[61,60,82,247],"class_list":["post-509132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}