Ariane 6 vs Starship: Is There a Competition?

18th Oct 2024
Ariane 6 vs Starship: Is There a Competition?

9th July 2024, was an important day for space in Europe. The European Space Agency launched the Ariane 6 carrier, which should solve Europe’s space access crisis and return payload launch sovereignty to the continent. In light of this event, we decided to compare the capabilities of Ariane 6 vs Starship and Falcon 9 to make a verdict on whether the new ESA rocket can withstand competition with the American hegemons and take its place in the sun.

The History of the Ariane Rocket Family

The Ariane rocket family dates back to 1979. It was then that the first launch of the Ariane 1 light-class vehicle was carried out. Since then, five main modifications have been created, which have made a total of more than 220 launches over 44 years. In the animation below, you can see the entire rocket family.

The most successful modification is the heavy class Ariane 5, which was successfully operated by the launch operator Arianespace from 1996 to 2023. The rocket completed 117 missions, of which only four failed (in the early stages). Over the past 20 years, this carrier has distinguished itself with an impeccable series of 102 launches, placing into orbit a huge number of satellites from countries and companies in Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. However, its time ran out.

In July 2023, ESA took the veteran out of service as an obsolete technology, planning to replace it with a newer version, Ariane 6. However, a quick replacement did not work out. The sixth version was planned to enter service in 2020. But technical issues and the need for additional launch system checks became the key reasons for the delay. In particular, during the qualification check, some problems were discovered that needed to be fixed before launch.

European Launcher Crisis

Delays in the commission of Ariane 6, the retirement of its predecessor, as well as the abandonment of the Russian Soyuz rocket after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the lightweight Vega C rocket after its launch failure in late 2022 have led to the so-called launcher crisis, which temporarily deprived Europe of independent access to space. As a result, from July 2023 to May 2024, ESA was forced to use the SpaceX Falcon 9 launching services three times. Several times, SpaceX also helped out the British company OneWeb, which had previously sent its satellites into orbit on the Russian Soyuz. OneWeb was further burned when Roscosmos confiscated 36 OneWeb satellites and refused to return them, thus further diminishing the possibility of using that route to space.

The successful launch of Ariane 6 finally puts an end to the European launch market hiatus and brings ESA back to the big game. How will the battle of Arianespace vs SpaceX end? Will the new European rocket be able to compete with the Falcon 9 or will Starship destroy it? Let’s figure it out.

Ariane 6 vs Starship vs Falcon 9 Comparison Table

Specs Ariane 62/64Falcon 9Starship
Height 63m/207 ft70 m/ 230 ft121 m / 397 ft
Width5.4m/18ft3.7 m/12 ft9 m / 29.5 ft
Start MassA62: 530 000 kg (1,170,000 lb)
A64: 860 000 kg (1,900,000 lb)
549,054 kg / 1,207,920 lb6, 000,000 kg/13, 227,735 lb
Stages2 + 2 or 4 solid boosters 2
Payload to LEO, SSOA64: 21,650 kg (47,730 lb)
A62: 10,350 kg (22,820 lb)
22,800 kg / 50,265 lb100,000 – 250,000 kg/ 220,462 –551,155 lb
Payload to GTOA64: 11,500 kg (25,400 lb)
A62: 4,500 kg (9,900 lb)
8,300 kg / 18,300 lb150,000 kg/330,693 lb
Payload to TLIA64: 8,600 kg (19,000 lb)
A62: 3,500 kg (7,700 lb)
4,020 kg / 8,860 lb150,000 kg/330,693 lb
Engines Boosters P120,1 stage – Vulcain 2.1 x 1,2 stage – Vinci x 11 stage – Merlin x 9,2 stage – Merlin Vacuum x 11 stage – Rator-3 x 33,2 stage –  Raptor Vacuum x 6 
Propellent Boosters – Al / HTPBStages — Liquid hydrogen /LOXRP1/LOXMethane/LOX
Reusability No 1 stageFully reusable
Cost per launchA62: €75 million
A64: €115 million
62 million USD2–62 million USD
Launches None3524 (test)

What Is Ariane 6?

The rocket is a two-stage heavy-duty launcher that will be used in two versions — 62 and 64. Version 62 is equipped with two solid rocket boosters and is capable of delivering a payload of up to 4,500 kg to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), up to 11,000 kg to LEO and SSO, as well as 3500 kg to trans-lunar trajectory. Version 64 has four boosters and can deliver 10,000 kg to GTO, almost 22,000 kg to LEO, and 8,500 kg to the TLI.

Ariane 6 rocket structure
Ariane 6 in cutaway. Credit: Wiki

The launch weight of Ariane 62 is 530 metric tonnes; for version 64 – 860 metric tonnes. Otherwise, the rockets are identical. They will be able to launch almost all types of satellites into all types of low-Earth orbits, be those single missions or rideshare. Unprecedented flexibility should ensure the rocket makes multiple commercial launches. And the launch schedule is proof of this. The list of Ariane 6 customers includes such companies as OneWeb, Intelsat, Meteosat,  and Amazon project Kuiper.

Ariane 6 vs SpaceX Starship

Starship cutaways
Starship views. Credit: pixel.com

In our previous articles, we have already detailed Elon Musk’s new brainchild, so we will quickly sum up instead of repeating ourselves. From the comparative table above, it is clear that SpaceX Starship is a unique space transport system with the greatest capabilities, but, like everything else, it is not perfect. Starship is enormous in size and design, and its goals are equally grand: delivery of cargo and astronauts to the Moon and Mars, and later to more distant planets with the possibility of returning back. It is possible to use such a system to deliver cargo into orbit, but this will unlikely be its main mission; for this, SpaceX has Falcon 9, which has broken all records in the number of successful launches. Ariane 6 is actually a European challenge to Falcon 9 because they are very similar. But will it be able to do more than SpaceX Falcon 9?

Ariane 6 vs Falcon 9

The Falcon 9 emerged in 2010 and became the first private rocket with liquid engines. The initial Falcon 1 took off only four times. But SpaceX worked on its mistakes, and today, Falcon 9 (9 means the number of engines in the first stage) is the most used and most reliable rocket in the world. SpaceX Falcon 9 can use its first stage multiple times, which makes it cheaper to launch. This is the main and perhaps the strongest advantage of SpaceX Falcon compared to Arianespace’s Ariane 6. But what do Arianespace and ESA think about this?

Will Starship Destroy Ariane 6?

In 2013, at a space conference in Singapore, Richard Bowles, director of Asian sales for Arianespace, was very sceptical about SpaceX Falcon 9. He said that SpaceX was selling a dream and that it was good because people should dream. “Personally, I think reusability is a dream. How am I going to respond to a dream? My answer to respond to a dream is, firstly, you don’t wake people up,” Bowles said with a grin. He also said that he does not consider SpaceX plans to make 100 launches per year realistic. Today, 11 years later, Falcon 9 does both. It makes over 100 launches a year and returns the first stage for re-launch.

In 2023, ESA head Josef Aschbacher recognised SpaceX as a strong competitor redefining access to space. He noted the high reliability of Falcon 9 and the exciting prospects of Starship. Indeed, SpaceX Starship is five times larger than Ariane 6 in terms of payload weight and is completely reusable. Yes, it has not yet been put into operation, but what will happen when it finally happens?

It seems that some European officials keep stepping on the same rake as 11 years ago. Recently, in an interview with SpaceNews, ESA’s director of space transportation, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, said that the possible competition between Starship and Ariane 6 does not trouble him. “This huge launcher is designed to fly people to the Moon and Mars. Ariane 6 is perfect for the job if you need to launch a four- or five-ton satellite. Starship will not eradicate Ariane 6 at all.” He also noted that ESA deliberately abandoned rocket reusability due to the small number of launches in Europe. “Our launch needs are so low that it wouldn’t make sense economically. So, we don’t really need it at this point. But when we’ll launch frequently in the future, we’ll need reusability for economic reasons.”

Of course, Tolker-Nielsen is right, in part. SpaceX Starship will unlikely become Europe’s primary launch vehicle for small and medium-sized satellites. Ariane 6 will fill the void after the decommissioning of Ariane 5, Vega C, and Soyuz because that’s what it was created for. In addition, some European legislators are seeking to support Ariane 6 vs SpaceX legally, demanding the introduction of regulations that require the exclusive use of European rockets to launch European satellites. However, arguing that Starship will not lead to dramatic changes in the launch market is similar to Richard Bowles’s claims about the dreamers who should not be woken. What do you think about this? Share your thoughts in the comments!

References and Additional Information:

  • Ariane 6 overview https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Launch_vehicles/Ariane_6_overview
  • Ariane 6
    https://www.arianespace.com/vehicle/ariane-6/
  • Falcon 9.  FIRST ORBITAL CLASS ROCKET CAPABLE OF REFLIGHT/ https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/falcon-9/
  • Falcon Heavy rocket
    https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/falcon-heavy/
  • Starship: SERVICE TO EARTH ORBIT, MOON, MARS AND BEYOND https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/
  • Orbital rockets
    https://nextspaceflight.com/rockets/
  • Falcon 9 v1.2 or Full Thrust – Block 5
    https://www.wevolver.com/specs/falcon-9-v12-or-full-thrust-block-5
  • SpaceX’s Starship Project
    https://impulso.space/blog/posts/spacex-starship-project/
  • Falcon 9 vs Falcon Heavy: Differences and Similarities
    https://impulso.space/blog/posts/falcon-9-vs-falcon-heavy/
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