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Ariane 6 is just pork barrel politics at this point. Will it launch? sure! Will it deliver some payloads in orbit? Of course. Is it already completely obsolete

Ariane 6 is just pork barrel politics at this point. Will it launch? sure! Will it deliver some payloads in orbit? Of course. Is it already completely obsolete and completely overpriced? That goes without saying! They just took the wrong turn many years ago and they have decided that it was better to keep going than to admit that they made a mistake. If we assume it takes the same amount of time to produce a working version of Ariane Next(the European falcon 9) then it won't arrive before the the mid 2030s and by this point, I would expect Starship or another rocket to have taken over the entire market anyway. Finally, I want to say that the money that funds this is not magic money that appears out of thin air, it's taxes or debt that we are saddling the next generation with and it seems considering the debt levels in Europe that we should aim to be a tad bit more careful how we spend these budgets.

mrtksn 2y ago
The performance numbers are fine, it's not obsolete in the sense of usefulness. Anyway, this project is not a French project or a German project but combination of many, therefore it needs to serve the interest of all those, therefore its politically very complex, therefore the management can't act as Musk. If it flies and delivers stuff into the space, even at higher prices, its a huge success.
- panick21_ 2y ago
  > If it flies and delivers stuff into the space, even at higher prices, its a huge success. Why do people keep repeating this nonsense. The goals of the project were outlined in 2014 when the project was greenlit. If anybody back then had suggested that 'If it flies and delivers stuff into the space, even at higher prices, its a huge success.' They would have been laughed out of the room. It directly contradicts the whole rational for the Ariane 6 that made it politically viable. If what you say was true, then Europe would be flying the Ariane 5 ME and developing a reusable launch vehicle of the future right now. You are just repeating ESA and Arianespace PR spin, when around 2020 it was clear their 2014 justification were nonsense, the just changed their PR and everybody just repeats it no matter that it directly contradicts the actual rational that was outlined for Ariane 6 in 2014.
simion314 2y ago
It is what is needed, giving those tax money to Ruzzians or USA and killing your local tech is bad.
sbuttgereit 2y ago
Something has to compete with SLS on its own terms.
- ginko 2y ago
  The payload of SLS is like five times that of Ariane 6. They can't really be compared at all.
  - mrtksn 2y ago
    And the cost per launch of SLS is 15 times higher than Ariane 6, the development cost is 6.5 times higher.
    - croisillon 2y ago
      Sadly, there is no such thing as a free launch

mrtksn 2y ago

The performance numbers are fine, it's not obsolete in the sense of usefulness. Anyway, this project is not a French project or a German project but combination of many, therefore it needs to serve the interest of all those, therefore its politically very complex, therefore the management can't act as Musk. If it flies and delivers stuff into the space, even at higher prices, its a huge success.

panick21_ 2y ago
> If it flies and delivers stuff into the space, even at higher prices, its a huge success. Why do people keep repeating this nonsense. The goals of the project were outlined in 2014 when the project was greenlit. If anybody back then had suggested that 'If it flies and delivers stuff into the space, even at higher prices, its a huge success.' They would have been laughed out of the room. It directly contradicts the whole rational for the Ariane 6 that made it politically viable. If what you say was true, then Europe would be flying the Ariane 5 ME and developing a reusable launch vehicle of the future right now. You are just repeating ESA and Arianespace PR spin, when around 2020 it was clear their 2014 justification were nonsense, the just changed their PR and everybody just repeats it no matter that it directly contradicts the actual rational that was outlined for Ariane 6 in 2014.

simion314 2y ago

It is what is needed, giving those tax money to Ruzzians or USA and killing your local tech is bad.

sbuttgereit 2y ago

Something has to compete with SLS on its own terms.

ginko 2y ago
The payload of SLS is like five times that of Ariane 6. They can't really be compared at all.
- mrtksn 2y ago
  And the cost per launch of SLS is 15 times higher than Ariane 6, the development cost is 6.5 times higher.
  - croisillon 2y ago
    Sadly, there is no such thing as a free launch