MT Mechatronics awarded a contract for the large precision system for the Ariane 6 launch pad in Kourou

Mainz, March 28th, 2018. Construction of the new launch facilities for the Ariane 6 launcher in Kourou, French Guiana, making swift progress. MT Mechatronics is playing a material role and has now prevailed over the European competition with the receipt of a contract for the delivery of the precision system for the mechanical ground support equipment MGSE.

This is an alignment platform for the final integration (EFF, ESR Finishing Facility) of the P120 boosters on the launch site. The technical challenge of this EFF dock project is no less than to position the 226-ton load of the booster with its pallets with a high precision before it is integrated with the central body of the launcher on the launch table, which is also being supplied by MT Mechatronics. With a weight of 800 tons, the launch table has already been shipped to Kourou, as have the first parts of the umbilical tower. 

“We are very pleased to expand the MGSE product segment with the award of this demanding contract. It reinforces our strategy of additionally leveraging the experience gained from high-precision antenna and telescope engineering for complex systems for handling space systems on the ground,” says Lutz Stenvers, Managing Director of MT Mechatronics.

Under this new contract, the MT Mechatronics engineers will initially be improving the design and identifying further cost-cutting potential. This will be followed by the assembly of the optimized EFF dock and the hand-over and start-up of the system in Kourou in July 2019.

The new launching facilities currently under construction for the Ariane 6, which will be completing its maiden flight in 2020, is called ELA4 (Ensemble de Lancement Ariane No. 4). In contrast to its predecessor, the future European launcher will be assembled horizontally. This will save both costs and time during the integration phase. The launcher will only be placed in a perpendicular position directly at the launch pad shortly before take-off using a mobile building with a height of 90 meters, weighing 8,000 tons and mounted on rails.