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Ariane flight VA262 was the maiden flight of the Ariane 6, carrying a 1,600-kilogram (3,500 lb) payload, consisting of a mass simulator, plus a number of small CubeSats and other experiments as rideshare payloads.

Mission

The launch experienced a one-hour delay due to a data acquisition system issue. Despite this, the countdown resumed smoothly, and the rocket lifted off successfully at 19:00 UTC, flying a northeastern trajectory that took it over Europe. During the initial launch, the initial stages, including the two P120C solid rocket boosters and core stage, performed as expected. The upper stage ignited at the T+8-minute mark and performed a ten-minute burn to establish a preliminary orbit. Following a coasting phase, the upper stage reignited at T+56 minutes for a successful 22-second burn, placing it in a circular orbit. Cubesats were deployed according to schedule at this point. However, during the mission's final phase, the auxiliary propulsion system (APU) malfunctioned at T+1 hour and 14 minutes.

The APU performs two critical functions in the re-ignition of the upper stage's Vinci engine. First, the APU heats up small amounts of propellant inside a 3D-printed gas generator and the gas it creates is injected back into the tanks to re-pressurize them. Secondly, the APU can produce a low level of thrust, to either settle floating propellant in the tanks before re-ignition of the Vinci engine or to make fine orbital adjustments (similar to a thruster).

The failure of the APU prevented the planned third burn at T+2 hours and 37 minutes. The third burn was considered an important test for future Ariane 6 missions and as part of ESA's efforts to leave zero launch debris in space.

The plan was for this third burn was to direct the upper stage into a safe deorbit over the Pacific Ocean and release the two reentry capsule experiments. The failure left the upper stage stranded in a 580-kilometre (360 mi) circular orbit. At this altitude, their natural orbital decay due to atmospheric drag is expected to take decades.

Payload

The payload was primarily a mass simulator but carried multiple rideshare payloads. They include five experiments (PariSat by GAREF, Peregrinus by Sint-Pieterscollege, LIFI by OLEDCOMM, SIDLOC by Libre Space and YPSat by ESA) and eight CubeSats (OOV-Cube by RapidCube, Curium One by PTS, ISTSat by University of Lisbon, 3Cat-4 by Polytechnic University of Catalonia, GRBBeta by Spacemanic, ROBUSTA-3 by University of Montpellier, CURIE by NASA and Replicator by Orbital Matter), which were deployed correctly. The launch also carried two reentry capsules (SpaceCase SC-X01 by ArianeGroup and Nyx Bikini by The Exploration Company) that were slated to be deployed after the second stage was to be deorbited, but the vehicle did not make reentry as planned.

See also

• List of Ariane launches

References

1. Krebs, Gunter D. "Ariane-6". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
2. ^ Clark, Stephen (10 July 2024). "Europe's first Ariane 6 flight achieved most of its goals, but ended prematurely". Ars Technica. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
3. Amos, Jonathan (10 July 2024). "Europe's Ariane-6 rocket blasts off on maiden flight". BBC. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
4. Parsonson, Andrew (10 July 2024). "Ariane 6 Anomaly Will Have "No Consequence" On Upcoming Missions". European Spaceflight. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
5. Beil, Adrian (10 July 2024). "Ariane 6 successfully launches on maiden flight from French Guiana". NASASpaceflight. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
6. Wall, Mike (9 July 2024). "Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket launches on long-awaited debut mission". Space.com. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
7. "Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket powers into space". European Space Agency. Retrieved 9 July 2024.

v t e Arianespace launches
Ariane 5 (list)	V88 (Cluster) VA241 (SES-14) VA245 (BepiColombo) VA256 (James Webb Space Telescope)
Ariane 6 (list)	VA262 (maiden flight)
Soyuz	VS09 (Galileo) VS22 (O3b)
Vega (list)	VV01 (LARES) VV15 (FalconEye1) VV16 (SSMS) VV22 (Pléiades Neo 5&6)
Between parentheses is the main payload only Italics indicate future launches Symbol indicates failure or partial failure

v t e Ariane (rocket family)
Rockets	Current Ariane 6 In development Ariane Next Retired Ariane 1 Ariane 2 Ariane 3 Ariane 4 Ariane 5
Launch sites	Guiana Space Centre (Kourou) ELA-1 ELA-2 ELA-3 ELA-4
Engines	Aestus HM7B P120C P160C Viking Vinci Vulcain
Launches	List of launches 1979–1989 1990–1999 2000–2009 2010–2019 2020–2029
Flights	VA240 VA241 VA242 VA244 VA243 VA245 VA246 VA247 VA248 VA253 VA254 VA255 VA256 VA262
Organizations	Manufacturing ArianeGroup Airbus Space Aérospatiale (merged) Safran Aircraft Engines Beyond Gravity MT Aerospace SABCA Nammo Launch provider Arianespace Related European Space Agency CNES
Related	Proposals SUSIE Cancelled Adeline Ariane 5 ME DC4EU Hermes Retired Automated Transfer Vehicle Europa
Category Multimedia

• Ariane (rocket family) launches
• 2024 in spaceflight
• Rocket launches in 2024