Research ministers approve €8B for the development of a new rocket

European research ministers backed a €8 billion plan to build a new rocket, the Ariane 6. The new, leaner model, to be developed by Airbus, will replace the current Ariane 5, which has been operating since the mid-1990s.

Ministers meeting in Luxembourg agreed to put in €800 million annually over ten year to fund the rocket and associated infrastructure.

"I think I can summarise this ministerial council by saying it is a success; I'd even go so far as to say that it is a great success," said the European Space Agency’s (ESA) director general, Jean-Jacques Dordain. There will be one take-off of the Ariane 6 from French Guiana in 2020 and four in 2021, rising to the annual target of 11 in 2023, he said.

Ariane 5 is under threat from nimble US commercial launchers such as SpaceX. Three of ESA’s top four contributors, France, Germany and Italy, compromised over the cost in a bid to keep up in the $6.5 billion space launch industry. 

ISS, trip to Mars

Science ministers from the 20-nation ESA, which last month made headlines by landing the Philae probe on a fast-moving comet, also approved European funding for the International Space Station of €800 million up to 2017.

A third big issue for the Luxembourg gathering was the ExoMars rover, due to be sent to Mars in 2018 to search for signs of life. The mission has made halting progress, due to a gap in funding. Ministers promised €140 million, a sum that will eventually have to be topped up. 

Other programmes to be approved at the meeting included the next phase of the Sentinel satellite programme and "AnySat", which is a concept for small, adaptable telecommunications spacecraft.

Factsheet on Ariane 6 here