The upper stage for Europe’s newest rocket Ariane 6 passed its final tests at ESA’s facilities in the Netherlands last week, qualifying the upper stage for a launch on the most powerful, four-booster, variant of the Ariane 6 rocket.

Five tests at different acoustic levels confirmed the upper stage is ready for a launch on Ariane 6 with four boosters. The tests were carried out by ArianeGroup teams at ESTEC – ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands – using the upper stage hot-fire test model, which was used for the hot-fire test campaign at the German aerospace center, DLR, test site in Lampoldshausen, Germany, between 2022 and 2024.

Rocket launches are loud – even when standing several kilometres from the launch pad. The rocket itself takes the largest brunt of the acoustic attack and so the upper stage test model of Ariane 6 was subjected to the sounds of a rocket launch at Europe’s loudest sound system, the Large European Acoustic Facility (LEAF) at ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands.