14 DAY TRIAL // Johann-Dietrich Woerner, the leader of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt or DLR), said in an interview held on today, March 19, that Germany is unlikely to support current plans by the European Space Agency (ESA) for constructing the Ariane 6 rocket.
This delivery system is based on the more famous Arianespace Ariane V rocket but is meant to carry slightly lighter payloads. The main reason for developing this rocket is for Europe to remain competitive on the international satellite launch market, where the Falcon 9 booster developed by SpaceX and China's Long March 3B rocket provide these services at a much lower price than ESA.
Woerner said that the current design of the Ariane 6, which calls for a solid-fueled first stage, is very unlikely to win German financial support. The only way to move forward and involve Germany is to replace this component with a cryogenic first stage. This would create jobs for the DLR as well and would potentially make Germany willing to support up to 25 percent of the rocket's development.
“We in Germany do not have a firm figure on what we can spend, but we can’t afford the current proposals. If the decision is made to have a cryogenic first stage on Ariane 6, we estimate it could cost 20-30 percent less because it borrows from the Ariane 5 ECA cryogenic stage,” the official said. A clear decision on the future of Ariane 6 is expected from ESA Member States later this year, Space News reports.