Aerospace companies including ArianeGroup, Dassault and Thales have had to close sites near Bordeaux in southwest France as wildfires continue to burn in the region.
The team of ArianeGroup, Soframe and Thales developing the X-Fire rocket system says they plan to offer conventional ballistic missile strike capability to engage targets at up to 2,500 km.
Thales has demonstrated a second key element of the company's effort, with French partners, to deliver a deep-strike system of the country’s armed forces.
Thales and ArianeGroup have flown the ground-launched FLP-T 150 missile in support of France’s desire to field such a weapon to quickly employ conventional warheads.
ESA and ArianeGroup are looking to advance work on a hydrogen peroxide and ethanol rocket engine that would be more sustainable than those using current propellants.
ArianeGroup is accelerating the production of strap-on boosters to ramp up the launch cadence of the two-booster Ariane 62 and four-booster Ariane 64 versions.
MaiaSpace, an ArianeGroup subsidiary developing a small, reusable launcher, has plans for a larger version with twice the payload, CEO Yohann Leroy said.
A year after launch of the project, Climate Impulse is reporting progress toward its goal of flying around the world nonstop on hydrogen-electric power in 2028.