(Alliance News) - Avio Spa reported that the Ariane 6 launcher successfully made its maiden flight taking off from the French Guiana Space Center, placing multiple payloads into orbit.

Avio is contributing to the Ariane 6 program by providing P120C solid-propellant boosters and liquid-oxygen turbopumps for the Vulcain 2.1 main stage motor and the Vinci upper stage motor. The P120C engines have performed very well. In the future, Avio will continue to supply P120C boosters that will be used in a two configuration as for this flight or a four configuration to carry larger loads.

Avio is already working on a more powerful version of the boosters, called the P160, which will increase the thrust of the launcher and consequently also the payload capacity, such as, for example, to carry out missions to put Amazon's Kuiper satellite constellation into orbit. The P160 will be the world's largest carbon fiber monolithic engine and will also be used by the Vega C.

Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio, commented, "We congratulate ESA and ArianeGroup on the successful inaugural flight of Ariane 6. We are proud to contribute to this program, which will continue to provide Europe with independent access to space together with our Vega C."

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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