The ArianeGroup Kick Stage: taking Ariane 6’s versatility to new heights
09.07.2020
Customer-focused innovation for efficient, optimized new missions
Ariane 6 is designed to evolve, to be able to integrate new innovative technologies in order to stay at the thrusting edge of customer service and competitiveness.
The kick stage proposed by ArianeGroup will boost Ariane 6’s versatility even further.
The kick stage is an additional stage positioned on top of Ariane 6’s upper stage, which will allow the rocket to place several satellites into different orbits in a single launch, or to inject a satellite directly into its final orbit, optimizing a wide scope of missions.
ArianeGroup is combining its capacity for innovation and its long-established expertise in Germany for the kick stage: Bremen, the central site for Ariane upper stages, Ottobrunn, with its expertise in rocket engines, and Lampoldshausen’s sub-system specialism.
The kick stage will be powered by the new-generation re-ignitable engine, BERTA.
The kick stage solution and the BERTA engine are proposals made by ArianeGroup GmbH to the European Space Agency (ESA) in the framework of the Astris System Development and Qualification Programme