Futurology

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The European Space Agency has started a second reusable rocket initiative focussed on making the upper stages of the existing Ariane 6 rocket reusable. (europeanspaceflight.com)

submitted 1 month ago by Lugh to c/futurology

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[–] Microw@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The agency explained that the ultimate goal is to develop a reusable upper stage for a two-stage rocket that can deliver 20 tonnes to low Earth orbit, a similar payload capacity to Ariane 6.

So do they want to make the Ariane 6 upper stage reusable, or do they want to make a new reusable upper stage that is comparable to Ariane 6?

[–] Lugh 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It is confusingly written, though my interpretation of this is that they are talking about a future variant of Ariane 6. I could be wrong, there are plans for something called Ariane Next in the 2030s, that will also be fully reusable, but this sounds like they intend it to happen this decade for the upper stage at least.

[–] Microw@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

Thanks!