ARIANE 6 FAIRING: END OF EARLY COMBINED TEST CAMPAIGN

An important and highly symbolic milestone in Ariane 6’s progress towards the launch pad has been successfully at the European spaceport

‘Early combined tests’ carried out on the rocket’s fairing constituted the first major operation towards qualification of the various Ariane 6 launcher system parts and launch base infrastructures. The campaign qualified the mechanical integration of the launcher’s upper component, notably the fairing and payload.

The campaign was carried out by ArianeGroup together with the French space agency CNES, with European Space Agency oversight.

Many activities preparing for the arrival of the Ariane 6 rocket are getting underway at Kourou’s spaceport: next up is a series of tests on the ELA-2 launch complex.

It’s all leading up to the combined test phase, which will see Ariane 6 installed on the launch pad, where it will be fueled up and its Vulcain 2.1 engine ignited several times – the dress rehearsal for the first Ariane 6 flight!