Thrust chamber and injector
- Combustion chamber
- Chamber regenerative cooling circuit
- Injection head
- Electric igniter
Illustration
ArianeGroup
Vinci engine
Restartable expander-cycle LOX/LH2 engine for the Ariane 6 upper stage; a 2017 paper by the nozzle team states a fixed two-cone nozzle extension in Carbon/Carbon-Silicon Carbide (aft) and Carbon/Carbon (forward). Other parts have no published material.
Product ID
arianegroup-vinci - Vacuum thrust
- 180 kN
- Thrust operating points
- 180 kN or 130 kN
- Specific impulse (vacuum)
- 457.2 s
- Chamber pressure
- 60 bar
In short
Restartable expander-cycle LOX/LH2 engine for the Ariane 6 upper stage; a 2017 paper by the nozzle team states a fixed two-cone nozzle extension in Carbon/Carbon-Silicon Carbide (aft) and Carbon/Carbon (forward). Other parts have no published material.
Application
Vinci is the engine of the Ariane 6 upper stage. Because it can be re-ignited in flight, one launch can place several payloads into different orbits and then deorbit the stage. Its radiatively cooled carbon-composite nozzle extension is the part with a published material.
Photos
No photos we are allowed to show yet. If you have a photo of this product and the right to share it, send it to us.
How it is built
Nozzle extension
- Nozzle extension, forward cone
- Nozzle extension, aft cone
Turbopumps
- Liquid hydrogen turbopump
- Liquid oxygen turbopump
- Liquid oxygen turbopump Dynamic Seal Package
- Turbopump turbines
Valves and regulators
- Valves and pressure regulators
Tank pressurisation interface
- Gaseous hydrogen tap-off for LH2 tank pressurization
- Thrust chamber and injector4
- Turbopumps4
- Nozzle extension2
- Valves and regulators1
- Tank pressurisation interface1
What it is made of
- Carbon/Carbon with an oxidation protection
Used in Nozzle extension, forward cone.
- Carbon/Carbon-Silicon Carbide
Used in Nozzle extension, aft cone.
How it connects to other things
Used in
Builds on
-
HM7-B engine
thrust chamber design basis
-
Vulcain engine
thrust chamber design basis
Made or supplied by
-
ArianeGroup
developer of the engine, with European partners
-
ArianeGroup, Le Haillan site (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers)
nozzle extension cones
-
Avio
liquid oxygen turbopump
-
ArianeGroup France (Vernon)
liquid oxygen turbopump responsibility moving here from Avio
-
GKN Aerospace
turbine assemblies for the turbopumps
-
Safran (Turin site, former Microtecnica)
valves and pressure regulators
What we do not know
No liner, jacket, injector, igniter, turbopump rotor, bearing, seal, valve or duct materials. No grades for the carbon fibres, matrices or the oxidation protection. No standards.
The detailed data
What is written above is built from these numbers and quotes. Each row links to the page it was taken from. Get all of it as JSON, or ask our MCP server.
Features
- Restartable, so one upper stage can place several payloads in different orbits
- Electric igniter allows the chamber to be re-ignited
- Chamber design is based on the HM7-B and Vulcain thrust chambers
- Thrust and mixture ratio are regulated from injection-head measurements
- Hydrogen cools the combustion chamber through a regenerative circuit
- Can fire a last time to deorbit the upper stage
- The Ariane 6 nozzle extension is no longer deployable in flight
- The Ariane 6 nozzle extension has two cones instead of the three of the A5ME design
- Development began for the Ariane 5 ME upper stage and was redirected to Ariane 6
- An Auxiliary Propulsion Unit pressurises the upper stage tanks
- Gaseous hydrogen tapped off the engine pressurises the liquid hydrogen tank
Specifications
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Vacuum thrust | 180 kN |
| Thrust operating points | 180 kN or 130 kN |
| Specific impulse (vacuum) | 457.2 s |
| Chamber pressure | 60 bar |
| Mixture ratio (oxidizer to fuel) | 6:1 |
| Cycle | Expander, no gas generator |
| Propellants | Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen |
| Ignitions per flight | Up to four |
| Maximum burn time in flight | 900 s |
| Hydrogen pump pressure | Up to more than 300 bar |
| Nozzle extension height and inlet diameter | 1872 mm high, 655 mm inlet diameter |
| Nozzle extension exit diameter | 1820 mm |
| Peak external temperature reached in nozzle extension tests | About 1710 K |
| Qualification campaign | 148 tests, 52,156 s of running |
| Engines per vehicle | One, on the Ariane 6 upper stage |
| Planned assembly and test rate (2025 plan) | Up to twelve engines a year at Lampoldshausen |
| First flight | Ariane 6 maiden launch, 9 July 2024 |
Materials in detail
Each material named in the sources: where it is used here, which other products use it, and its key numbers when its material page exists.
-
Carbon/Carbon with an oxidation protection
carbon-carbonUsed in 1 partNozzle extension, forward cone
Also in 1 other productMaterial page coming soon -
Carbon/Carbon-Silicon Carbide
carbon-carbon-silicon-carbideUsed in 1 partNozzle extension, aft cone
Material page coming soon
Every part we have
Only the two cones of the nozzle extension have a stated material (Carbon/Carbon-Silicon Carbide aft, Carbon/Carbon forward, from a 2017 IAC abstract). The thrust chamber, injection head, igniter, turbopumps and valves are listed from ArianeGroup, ESA and IAC sources with no material stated.
Material IDs
carbon-carboncarbon-carbon-silicon-carbide
Thrust chamber and injector4
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Combustion chamber“the combustion chambers are developed and built in Ottobrunn, near Munich” | Not said | — | ArianeGroup, Ottobrunn |
| Chamber regenerative cooling circuit“an optimised regenerative cooling circuit for the combustion chamber” | Not said | — | — |
| Injection head“The engine will use measurements at the injection head to precisely regulate the thrust and mixture ratio” | Not said | — | — |
| Electric igniter“the chamber is re-ignitable by help of an electric igniter” | Not said | — | — |
Nozzle extension2
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nozzle extension, forward cone“the aft cone in Carbon/Carbon-Silicon Carbide and the forward cone in Carbon/Carbon with an oxidation protection” | Carbon/Carbon with an oxidation protectioncarbon-carbon | oxidation protection (type not stated) | Le Haillan site, France |
| Nozzle extension, aft cone“the aft cone in Carbon/Carbon-Silicon Carbide and the forward cone in Carbon/Carbon with an oxidation protection” | Carbon/Carbon-Silicon Carbidecarbon-carbon-silicon-carbide | — | Le Haillan site, France |
Turbopumps4
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid hydrogen turbopump“for the hydrogen turbopump (Vernon, France)” | Not said | — | Vernon, France (2015 plan) |
| Liquid oxygen turbopump“Avio provides the liquid oxygen turbopumps for the Vinci and Vulcain 2.1 engines for Ariane 6.” | Not said | — | Avio |
| Liquid oxygen turbopump Dynamic Seal Package“including a new, more compact type of Dynamic Seal Package” | Not said | — | Avio |
| Turbopump turbines“These turbine assemblies will be manufactured at GKN Aerospace” | Not said | — | GKN Aerospace |
Valves and regulators1
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valves and pressure regulators“In Turin, Italy, the former Microtecnica site now owned by Safran produces valves and pressure regulators” | Not said | — | Safran, Turin |
Tank pressurisation interface1
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaseous hydrogen tap-off for LH2 tank pressurization“It provides also GH2 (tap off) for LH2 Tank pressurization” | Not said | — | — |
What the sources leave out
No liner, jacket, injector, igniter, turbopump rotor, bearing, seal, valve or duct materials. No grades for the carbon fibres, matrices or the oxidation protection. No standards.
Where this comes from
14 pages from 7 websites
- directory.eoportal.org/other-space-activities/ariane6
- eucass.eu/doi/EUCASS2023-873.pdf
- iafastro.directory/iac/archive/browse/IAC-18/C4/1/45921
- ariane.group/en/space/propulsion
- esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Ariane/The_engines_of_Ariane_6
- ariane.group/en/news/ariane-6-vinci-engine-successful-qualification-tests
- iafastro.directory/iac/archive/browse/IAC-17/C4/1/37293
- esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Ariane/Ariane_6_what_s_it_made_
- ariane.group/en/news/arianegroup-prepares-for-vinci-engine-integration-and-accepta
- iafastro.directory/iac/archive/browse/IAC-19/C4/1/52605
- iafastro.directory/iac/archive/browse/IAC-15/C4/1/28800
- esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Ariane/Ariane_6_made_in_Italy
- avio.com/cryogenic-turbopumps
- adsgroup.org.uk/knowledge/industry-member-news/gkn-aerospace-wins-ariane-6-rocket-eng
More space products
Collected from public pages and documents, checked 4 Nov 2026.
Published · Updated