2 weeks Ago By Richard Speed
A qualification version of the P160C solid-fuel motor was successfully tested at the European Spaceport in French Guiana on April 24, paving the way for heftier payloads on the Ariane 6 and Vega rockets. The P160C is an upgrade of the P120C solid-fuel booster. It is one meter longer and carries 14 metric tons more propellant.
However, according to the European Space Agency (ESA), the changes don't affect the connection interfaces to the Ariane 6 launcher's central core, meaning that a payload boost will be relatively straightforward once the motor enters service in a few years. The successful test will be followed next week by the launch of ESA's Biomass satellite from the spaceport atop a Vega-C. Scheduled for April 29, the satellite is designed to observe the condition of the Earth's forests during a planned five-year mission.
Built in the UK with contributions from 20 countries, including the US, where L3 Harris developed the satellite's enormous 12-meter diameter antenna, the satellite is the first to carry a P-band synthetic aperture radar to penetrate forest canopies. The Biomass launch is the second of the Vega-C since the rocket was stood down following a failure of the second stage on December 21, 2022. The launcher returned to flight on December 5, 2024, with the launch of the Sentinel-1C spacecraft.
As well as featuring on the Ariane 6, the P120C is used as the first stage of the Vega-C. This will be replaced by P160C for the Vega-C+, which, according to Avio [PDF], will "bring a delta performance to the Vega C+ launcher of approximately 200 kg." Avio, which developed the motor jointly with ArianeGroup, also noted that the engine, when fitted to the Ariane 6, "will enable participation in the Kuiper Constellation deployment.
" In 2022, Amazon revealed it had made a deal with Arianespace for 18 Ariane 6 rockets as part of its Project Kuiper deployment effort. The first of those Ariane 6s is tentatively scheduled to launch at the end of this year. According to Avio, 16 of the Project Kuiper Ariane 6s will require the P160C.
Project Kuiper is Amazon's take on satellite broadband, similar to SpaceX's Starlink. However, while the number of Starlink satellites in orbit is in the thousands, aside from some prototypes, the deployment of Project Kuiper has yet to commence. A launch planned for earlier this month was scrubbed due to bad weather.
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