Munich, Germany

Thousands of people in cities all over Europe are working to ensure European access to space, bringing all the benefits of our wider Universe to people on Earth. This satellite photo highlights one of the cities of Ariane 6, where people are working to make Europe’s new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, fly.

Munich, Germany, is a hub of transport companies, from cars to aircraft and also space transport. Just south of Munich in Ottobrunn is where ArianeGroup, design authority and prime contractor for the Ariane 6 rocket has an office for its spacecraft propulsion division.

Vulcain 2.1 is the main stage engine for Ariane 6 and sits at the bottom of the rocket's central core. Calling Vulcain an engine hardly does it justice, this rocket engine uses super-cooled liquid oxygen and hydrogen as fuel kept below –180°C and the engine provides over 1370 kN of thrust – ten times more than the takeoff thrust of a typical passenger jet.

Higher up on the Ariane 6 rocket is the Vinci engine, it ignites once the upper stage has escaped the clutches of gravity, and places satellites into their precise orbit – it can then ignite again, up to four times in flight. The restarting allows Ariane 6 to reach a larger range of orbits to deliver more payloads on a single launch.