Rocket maiden flight

Ariane 6 conquers infinite space with Lower Austrian technology

Ariane 6 is to be launched into space for the first time. Lower Austria is joining in the excitement.(Bild: ESA)

The European Space Agency ESA sends its new launcher on its maiden flight. Important components produced by local companies make it possible.

On the evening of July 9, all space fans will be eagerly looking towards French Guiana. This is where Ariane 6, ESA's new launcher, is due to take off from the Kourou space center at 8 p.m. our time for its maiden flight into orbit around the earth.

Enormous heat
Ariane 6 has a lot of high technology from Lower Austria on board. Beyond Gravity Austria, the largest Austrian space technology company, produced the thermal insulation for the rocket drive in Berndorf in Triestingtal. The glass and ceramic fabric has to withstand heat of up to 1500 degrees Celsius. "That's a temperature at which iron melts," says Wolfgang Pawlinetz from Beyond Gravity Austria.

Wolfgang Pawlinetz and his team worked on the European rocket in Berndorf.(Bild: (c) www.annarauchenberger.com /)

Enormous cold
The Waldviertel-based company Test-Fuchs from Groß-Siegharts, which has been a partner of European rocket builders for many years, is also making a significant contribution to the success of the mission. The company has produced special cold-air valves for Ariane 6, which have to work smoothly even at minus 270 degrees.

Welding for space
The company SBI in Hollabrunn is also indirectly involved in the Ariane project, so to speak. It develops plasma welding equipment that is used in the production of satellite tanks, for example. SBI is working together with the German aerospace company MT Aerospace, which has supplied key components for the new ESA rocket.

The future of space travel
The Ariane 6 launch is now being kept under close observation at ESA's first Phi-Lab, which - as reported - was recently opened in Schwechat. In future, projects on the future of space technology will be promoted there in cooperation with the Lower Austrian technology incubator Accent.