Copernical Team
Liftoff power: launch of first Ariane 6 with four boosters
Video:
00:04:18
At 16:45 GMT/17:45 CET the first Ariane 6 rocket with four boosters lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 12 February, taking 32 Amazon Leo satellites to orbit.
This is Ariane 6’s most powerful version yet. The new three-stage European rocket can be adapted according to each mission with either two or four boosters as well as the length of the fairing – the nosecone that splits vertically in two. This launch was the sixth Ariane 6 flight, the first to fly with four boosters and also the first with the long fairing.
Ariane 6 in its four-booster configuration, known as Ariane 64, doubles the rocket’s performance
Ariane 6 first launch with four boosters: the complete broadcast
Video:
02:47:47
Watch the broadcast for the launch of Ariane 6 Flight VA267, the first mission featuring the four-booster configuration.
On this flight, Ariane 6 delivered 32 satellites for Amazon’s LEO constellation into low Earth orbit.
Cheops discovers late bloomer from another era
Scientists used the European Space Agency's Cheops satellite to discover that the planetary system around the star LHS 1903 challenges current planet formation theories with the unusual order of its planets. Surprisingly, the most distant outer planet might be rocky and seems to have formed later – in a different environment than the other planets around the star.
More power: first Ariane 6 with four boosters lifts off
Highlights of first launch of Ariane 6 with four boosters
Video:
00:02:07
At 16:45 GMT/17:45 CET the first Ariane 6 rocket with four boosters lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 12 February, taking 32 Amazon Leo satellites to orbit.
This is Ariane 6’s most powerful version yet. The new three-stage European rocket can be adapted according to each mission with either two or four boosters as well as the length of the fairing – the nosecone that splits vertically in two. This launch was the sixth Ariane 6 flight, the first to fly with four boosters and also the first with the long fairing.
Ariane 6 in its
By The Numbers: A look at European rocket Ariane 64's maiden launch
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Extraterrestrial strategy: How the US could achieve energy dominance in space
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ESA will engage global leaders at the Munich Security Conference 2026
The European Space Agency (ESA) will take part in the upcoming Munich Security Conference (MSC), one of the world’s leading forums for international security policy. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher will join senior political leaders, industry executives and security experts to highlight how space systems underpin Europe’s competitiveness, resilience and strategic autonomy.
NASA's SPHEREx mission spots 3I/ATLAS's bright envelope
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The radical propulsion needed to catch the solar gravitational lens
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