Godspeed! I don’t think Ariane 6 will go down in history as a successful rocket, mostly on account of the shift in economics forced on the rest of the industry by SpaceX. But I do get excited for debut launches – some very clever people worked very hard on this. :)
Outside an atmosphere like Earth’s, everything is already exposed to intense ionizing radiation from the sun/stars. A bit more from an RTG, even a big one, is a drop in the ocean. If we found signs of extraterrestrial life, then we’d want to be extra cautious about not sterilizing by accident, but that’s not currently a major concern. And of course, any sort of nuclear rocket propulsion would need to be handed with utmost care, but it’s also not a major issue once it’s outside the atmosphere.
The system is designed to be initially 20 square centimeters in size but would inflate about 7,500 times larger to around 1.5 square meters, increasing atmospheric drag to accelerate deorbiting.
The only thing more impressive than seeing that expand out would be watching them pack it down.
After decades of camping, I only recently found out most (modern) sleeping bags are actually meant to be stuffed in their bags, not rolled up. Just kinda keep stuffing it in there and they seem to naturally fill gaps better than if they were rolled up first, so they’re easier and much faster to pack away.
Hey now! Day’s still young and I’m just getting started.
You don’t think that European rocketry’s Aryan history has anything to do with their current rockets being named “after the Greek myth of Ariadne but we conveniently left off the d”?
It’s been a bad name forever. It’s always made me a bit wary. As nazi imagery resurfaces, it’s time to move on from this name which is a relic of past nazism.
If your day is just starting, maybe you need a coffee. There’s a distinct difference between Aryan (or Aryen in French) and Ariane (or Ariane in French).
Different words in different languages sounding the same is a wild launch to a crusade in 2025. Wait until you hear about Ariana Grande… the most Grand of all the Aryans. I know the additional letters won’t fool you.
Apparently there was an issue with ground equipment.
Due to further operations needed on a ground means interfacing with the launcher, the launch is postponed. The new launch date will be announced following the completion of these operations.
Today’s flyby will be the first to significantly ‘tilt’ the spacecraft’s orbit and allow it to see the Sun’s polar regions, which cannot be seen from Earth.
Huh, it never occurred to me that we haven’t seen what the Sun looks like from above or below the plane of the solar system.
Why not invest in a bunch of the smaller companies like Rocket Factory Ausburg, PLD Space, MaiaSpace, HyImpulse, etc? They won’t all be successful, but if just a couple of them are, the competition would put Europe in a much stronger position than if they were to establish Euro-ULA.
I’m not sure we can afford an “either or” strategy.
We should be doing that, we should be doing euro-ULA, and we should be massively expanding (access to) launch infrastructure. There’s only so much you can do when your ranges are literally on the other side of the planet.
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