By Tim Hepher and Joey Roulette
PARIS, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Amazon Leo has ordered six additional launches on Europe's Ariane 6 launcher, operator Arianespace said on Wednesday, in a boost to Europe's flagship rocket programme.
The announcement at a Paris space gathering brings the number of Ariane launches commissioned by Amazon to 24 by 2031.
The new flights will begin on the high-capacity Ariane 64 version in 2029, the commercial arm of ArianeGroup said.
French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the deal
at the opening of a two-day space summit shunned by top U.S. space firms including Blue Origin, the launch provider owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, following what sources last week described as White House pressure over the summit's Europe-led agenda.
Amazon aims to provide broadband internet globally with its low-Earth orbit network of thousands of planned satellites, challenging SpaceX's Starlink, which has amassed millions of customers worldwide.
Amazon has mostly relied on the Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance, Boeing and Lockheed Martin's joint rocket venture, to get its satellites to space.
Wednesday's deal shows a deepening reliance on Europe's prime launcher as U.S. supply faces a shortage, though European launch activity remains dwarfed by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Arianespace has placed 100 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit on three Ariane 6 missions so far this year.
Amazon previously faced a regulatory requirement to launch half of its initial 3,232 satellites by this summer, but that was waived in June after the company cited a shortage in supply.
Arianespace said earlier on Wednesday it would announce other new business bringing the number of extra launches to 10. Currently it has orders for about 30 launches, with slots available in 2029 and 2030, a spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher. Editing by Mark Potter)
