14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at the European Space Agency (ESA) announced today, February 12, that Airbus Defense and Space has just been awarded a €60 million ($81 million) grant for developing the proposed Ariane 6 medium-lift delivery system throughout 2014.
The rocket – smaller than Arianespace's flagship Ariane V – is meant to ferry light to medium-weight payloads to low-Earth orbit. Airbus will continue to conduct definition and feasibility studies related to this rocket until the end of the year, when ESA member states meet up to discuss its future.
The European agency has already approved a design featuring a re-ignitable cryogenic upper stage and two solid rocket fuel boosters strapped to a solid fuel-powered vehicle. The latter will feature just two stages. Airbus now has to “consolidate the launcher’s main characteristics,” ESA officials say.
An intermediary meeting ahead of the December 2 congress will take place in March. At that time, representatives from the 20 states making up ESA will hear cost estimates and guarantees. Over the next few months, these countries will decide whether or not they will commit to developing Ariane 6 further, Space News reports.