Enlarge / Imagery from Europe's Sentinel-2 satellite shows the aftermath of an explosion on a test stand at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. (credit: Sentinel Hub EO Browser/CC BY 4.0 )

Welcome to Edition 6.21 of the Rocket Report!

Someone is always watching, and it's more difficult than ever to hide bad news. This is one of my mantras as a reporter who will always come down on the side of transparency. We've seen space companies and government agencies in the United States try to downplay setbacks, which, let's face it, are inevitable in the space business. In China, it looks like a recent test-firing of a rocket motor didn't go well. Unsurprisingly, Chinese officials haven't said a thing.

As always, we welcome reader submissions , and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Enlarge / Exhaust plumes from the Ariane 6 rocket's main engine rise above the launch pad in French Guiana. (credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Piron )

The European Space Agency (ESA) declared success after an Ariane 6 rocket fired its core stage engine in French Guiana for seven minutes on Thursday, clearing one of a handful of remaining hurdles before the new launcher can lift off on its first test flight.

The Ariane 6's inaugural launch, now scheduled for next year, has been delayed repeatedly since ESA approved the new rocket for development in 2014. The test-firing of the Ariane 6 main engine on a launch pad at the Guiana Space Center in South America last week was the most significant test not yet accomplished on the rocket's preflight checklist.

The test lasted 426 seconds—a little more than seven minutes—while a full-size test model of the Ariane 6 rocket remained on its launch pad. In order for the rocket to actually take off, it would need to light its four strap-on solid-fueled boosters. That was not part of the plan for Thursday's test.

Enlarge / The Ariane 6 rocket's upper stage undergoes hot fire testing on September 1. (credit: ESA/DLR/ArianeGroup)

Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket is reaching its decisive phase of testing, officials said this week. This includes a short and long-duration firing of the rocket's first stage at European launch facilities in French Guiana, tests that could occur today and about one month from now.

"They are really the decisive moments when we see how the engines operate under full throttle," the director general of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, said during a press briefing on Monday.

Aschbacher declined to specify a launch target for the new medium-lift rocket, the development of which began in 2014, and which was originally due to make its debut in 2020. The European Space Agency and the rocket's prime contractor, ArianeGroup, are now working toward a launch in 2024.

Enlarge / The Super Heavy booster for SpaceX's next Starship test flight is raised onto its launch mount at the Starbase facility in South Texas. (credit: SpaceX )

Welcome to Edition 6.04 of the Rocket Report! SpaceX has a Super Heavy booster on the launch pad in Texas a lot sooner than many thought. There was some pretty extensive damage at the launch site in the aftermath of the Starship test launch in April, SpaceX made quick work with repairs and upgrades to beef up the pad. Meanwhile, SpaceX's Falcon 9 launcher, Rocket Lab's Electron, and China's rocket fleet show no signs of slowing down.

As always, we welcome reader submissions , and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

China's Galactic Energy launches sixth successful mission . Galactic Energy, one of several new Chinese startup launch companies, launched its sixth consecutive successful satellite delivery mission on July 22, Space News reports . The company's solid-fueled Ceres 1 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan launch base in the Gobi Desert with two small satellites on board. Galactic Energy is also developing a medium-lift rocket named Pallas 1 that is designed to eventually be recoverable and reusable.

Enlarge / Under the stars with the Ariane 6 launch base at Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. (credit: ESA )

The European Space Agency posted an update Friday on the status of its flagship rocket, the Ariane 6 vehicle. While the space agency did not provide a concrete launch target for the rocket's debut flight, it shared information on key milestones to be completed, including a test firing of the rocket's first stage in French Guiana.

Even without an updated launch date, it can reasonably be inferred from the new information that the Ariane 6 rocket will not launch this year. The question now is how far the debut of the much-anticipated rocket will slip into 2024.

Here's why: During a news conference in October 2022, the director general of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, laid out the pathway for the Ariane 6 rocket to make its debut in 2023. "There are three very big milestones ahead of us that need to be accomplished by the first quarter of 2023 in order for the inaugural flight by the end of next year," he said at the time.

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