Upgraded Ariane 6 launches Amazon Leo satellites

WASHINGTON — An Ariane 6 with upgraded solid rocket boosters successfully launched three dozen Amazon Leo satellites June 17 as ESA weighs options for increasing the vehicle’s launch rate. The Ariane 64 rocket lifted off from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, at 8:21 a.m. Eastern. The liftoff was delayed by about a half-hour because of an unspecified issue detected about a minute before the planned liftoff. The rocket carried 36 Amazon Leo broadband satellites that were deployed by the Ariane 6 upper stage into low Earth orbit starting 1 hour and 26 minutes after liftoff. The satellite deployments were completed 25 minutes later. The mission, designated VA269 by Arianespace and LE-03 by Amazon, was the third Ariane 6 launch this year, all for Amazon. It was the first, though, to use upgraded P160C solid rocket boosters. Those boosters provide increased thrust compared with the P120C boosters used on previous Ariane 6 launches, increasing the rocket’s payload capacity to LEO by more than two metric tons. That allowed this mission to carry 36 Amazon Leo satellites, whereas the prior launches in February and April each carried 32. That is the most Amazon Leo satellites on a single launch to date, including Atlas 5 and Falcon 9 missions, and the payload is the heaviest launched on an Ariane 6. “With 100 satellites now placed in orbit by Arianespace for Amazon Leo and the launch of four more satellites than the first two missions, we are setting records with an increasingly powerful and versatile launcher,” David Cavaillolès, chief executive of Arianespace, said in a statement after the launch. “This further demonstrates our ability to address new markets, and especially constellation deployment.” The launch is the third of 18 that Amazon ordered from Arianespace in 2022. It has become an important vehicle for the deployment of Amazon Leo given delays and anomalies with Blue Origin’s New Glenn and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur, two other vehicles with large launch contracts for the 3,636-satellite constellation. So far, 367 Amazon Leo satellites have launched on Ariane 6, Atlas V and Falcon 9. However, there is only one more Atlas 5 launch for Amazon Leo, scheduled for July 3, forcing Amazon to lean more on Arianespace. “As far as Arianespace, for sure, they definitely have stepped up,” Steve Metayer, vice president of Amazon Leo production operations, said in a call with reporters before the launch. “They’re very reliable on their manifest dates. They’re very reliable and safe on their insertions in orbit,” he said. “So, we definitely would continue to look forward to the next 16 launches with them on our existing contract, and we see them being a player long term beyond that.” He downplayed the impact of the New Glenn pad explosion on the deployment of the constellation, noting that the vehicle accounts for less than 25% of the total launches under contract. However, each New Glenn launch will carry at least 48 Amazon Leo sa…