Early thinking is that this will be a smaller rocket than Ariane 5 with a modular design capable of lifting one satellite at a time weighing from three to 6.5 tonnes.

BBC: Ariane rocket ready to do battle

Present thinking seems to be that it will abandon the dual-payload approach in favour of a design that is modular enough that it can loft a single satellite that weighs anything from three tonnes all the way up to six, and possibly even eight, tonnes.

BBC: Ariane rocket aims to pick up the pace