An Ariane 5 solid-propellant booster was test-fired on 24 May at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana to help improve the reliability of Europe’s heavy launcher. The motor burned for about 135 seconds, simulating the firing time during an Ariane 5 flight, and delivered a mean thrust of 700 t. The performance curve is shown on the left: plotted is the thrust of the motor versus the time following ignition.

This firing is part of the Ariane 5 Research and Technology Accompaniment (ARTA) programme, designed to validate modifications for the next production batch of boosters to be flown.