European heavyweight rocket puts Amazon satellites into orbit

(CN) — Europe launched its most powerful rocket ever on Thursday, carrying into orbit 32 internet satellites that are part of Amazon's bid to create a new communications network to compete with SpaceX's Starlink system.

The Ariane 64 rocket is part of Europe's flagship Ariane 6 series and the first powered by four boosters, meaning it can carry a larger load and rival heavy-lift American, Chinese and Russian rockets.

It blasted off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, with the 32 Amazon satellites aboard. The operation marked the first of 18 planned launches for Amazon's Leo project, a venture to create a global broadband network using thousands of low-orbit satellites.

The Ariane rockets are made by the ArianeGroup, a French-based aerospace giant. The rockets are built across Europe after 13 members of the European Space Agency agreed to cooperate and finance the program. The main work sites are in Bremen, Germany, and Les Mureaux, France, just outside Paris.

The Ariane 64 rocket is about twice as powerful as a previous version and stands about 203 feet tall, roughly the height of a 20-story building.

During a near-full orbit of Earth, Thursday's mission lasted about one hour and 54 minutes, with the satellites separating from the rocket in stages.

Amazon aims to deploy thousands of satellites to provide fast broadband service around the globe. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, started his own space company, Blue Origin, in 2000 and turned his focus to it in recent years.

The Ariane 64 can carry a payload of about 24 tons into the low Earth orbit zone, the area of space under an altitude of 1,200 miles. That payload puts it among the world's biggest rockets but still far behind SpaceX's Falcon Heavy with its capacity to carry roughly 64 tons into low orbit.

ArianeGroup plans a total of up to eight launches this year, a very small number compared to Elon Musk's SpaceX. Last year, SpaceX sent 165 rockets into space, a staggering number. Unlike SpaceX, the Ariane rockets are not reusable, making them much more costly. The ArianeGroup is working on developing reusable rockets.

The Ariane program started in the 1970s and became Western Europe's first successful space launching system, giving Europe independent access to space.

Last year, Ariane rockets launched a French military reconnaissance satellite, a weather satellite, and European Union-sponsored Earth-observation radar and navigation satellites.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau