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The European Space Agency has completed the qualification review of the P160C solid-fuel booster upgrade for Ariane 6 and Vega C.
The P160C booster is expected to be used for the first time next year aboard an Ariane 6 rocket.
The next mission planned for the first quarter of 2026 will use a four-booster version of Ariane 6.
Ariane 6 launched at 2:01 am local time (0501 GMT) from Europe's spaceport in Kourou.
The loss of Soyuz rockets and delays to Ariane 6 left Europe without an independent launch capability for several months.
Before Ariane 6's first commercial flight in March 2023, ESA contracted SpaceX to launch two Galileo satellites in September 2024.
SpaceX has dominated the commercial launch industry by developing reusable rockets, while Ariane 6 is not reusable.
Arianespace reduced the number of commercial launches planned for Ariane 6 this year by one.
Ariane 6 also launched a weather satellite into orbit in August and a Copernicus satellite last month.
Previous Galileo satellites were launched using Ariane 5 and Russian Soyuz rockets.
The European Space Agency awarded ArianeGroup a €90 million contract in July 2021 for the development of an ASTRIS kick stage as part of the Ariane 6 Competitiveness Improvement Programme.
ArianeGroup's ASTRALIS will provide advanced transport and refuelling capabilities for missions to space, in space, and back to Earth.
The first Ariane 6 flight with an ASTRIS kick stage was initially expected to take place in 2024.
The launch vehicle for this mission, designated VA266, was an Ariane 6 rocket equipped with two boosters.
ArianeGroup plans to present its ASTRALIS carrier spacecraft at the European Commission's In-Space Operations and Services (ISOS) Strategic Forum in Munich.
ArianeGroup describes ASTRALIS as an efficient logistics spacecraft for a future European in-space operations system.
The review for the Ariane 6 mission involved compliance of onboard systems and mechanical and electrical interfaces.
The cost of an Ariane launch is reported to be between $75 million and $95 million, depending on the mission.
The Ariane 64 rocket is making its debut flight and is the first Ariane rocket with four boosters attached.
McKinsey noted that from 2003 to 2017, the Ariane system achieved 82 consecutive successful launches.