ESA’s new generation launch vehicle, Ariane 6, is designed to continue guaranteed access to space for Europe. It will be capable of carrying out all types of missions to all orbits from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Ariane 6 has two versions: Ariane 62, fitted with two strap-on boosters, and Ariane 64, with four.

For its first flight, Ariane 6 will be in the two-booster configuration with a short fairing. ESA will use a payload carrier able to host experiments totalling 80 kg and release payloads with an aggregated mass of 800 kg.

Under the responsibility of ESA, this launch will serve to qualify the overall Ariane 6 system, including the vehicle, the ground infrastructure and operations from the launch campaign to the payload separation and then disposal of the upper module through reentry, minimising space debris.

This Announcement of Opportunity is open in priority, but not exclusively, to any European commercial and institutional candidate mission. Applications from ESA Member States participating in the Ariane 6 programme will be given priority: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Ariane 6 is a project managed and funded by the European Space Agency. ArianeGroup is design authority and industrial prime contractor for the launcher system. The French space agency CNES is prime contractor for the development of the Ariane 6 launch base at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Arianespace commercialises Ariane 6.

Any interested organisation should register with ESA via the esa-star portal in order to demonstrate their interest. Information on how to register with ESA and how to use esa-star is available on the How to do section of the Business with ESA portal.

Further information on this Announcement of Opportunity is available at ‘Interact 7’ in ESA-star registration. Please register to gain access to further details.