Welcome to the Rocket profile of the Ariane 6, the European Space Agency's next addition to the Ariane family. Ariane 6 is still in development due for its first flight in 2020 so some of the data audit may change. Its first stage core engine is an upgrade to the Ariane 5's Volcan 2 and this is known as either the Volcan 2.1 or Volcan Mark III. It has 1390 kilonewtons of thrust and burns hydrogen and oxygen for around 7 minutes and 40 seconds though other data suggest longer burn times. Data audit specific impulse varies but the most likely numbers are 362 seconds at sea level and 414 seconds in vacuum. The thrust from the core is supplemented by either 2 or 4 P120 solid fuel boosters. If there are two boosters it is an Ariane 62 while a 4 booster is an Ariane 64. As indicated by their name the boosters each have 120 tons of propellants, they have 2500 53 kilonewtons of vacuum thrust each and burn for 2 minutes and 10 seconds. This specific impulse is 260 seconds at sea level and 281 in vacuum. Ariane 6 is like Ariane 5 primarily optimized for geostationary transfers and the Ariane 64 will be able to launch 11 tons to geostationary transfer orbit. The Ariane 62 can manage 5 tons. The purpose of the Ariane 6 was to be cheaper than the Ariane 5 that at first glance it's difficult to see how it manages this. It still has the same core engine and its upper stage is unlikely to be cheaper than the Ariane 5 upper stage. The one benefit it has is in the solid fuel boosters which will be cheaper than those used on the Ariane 5 especially when only two are used and they will also be used as the core stage of an updated Vega rocket. However, as with all launch cost estimates the true number will only be seen when the rocket goes operational. The second stage of Ariane 6 is a new Vinci engine with 180 kilonewtons of thrust and just over 10 minutes of burn time. The Vinci has a specific impulse of 465 seconds in vacuum putting it at the upper limit for a hydrogen and oxygen engine. It is probably the best upgrade over the Ariane 5 as it provides much more power and saves the upper stage from the need to pitch up significantly while making orbit thus reducing gravity losses. After booster separation the first stage still has to maintain a fairly high pitch because its thrust weight ratio is relatively low. On that note thank you for watching this rocket profile of the Ariane 6.