Arianespace spacecraft launcher family
Arianespace spacecraft launcher family
Arianespace is one of the world’s leading satellite launch companies, operating a full family of launchers: Ariane 5 for heavy lift spacecraft, the Soyuz for medium size and Vega for light weight spacecraft.
The French multinational company was the world’s first commercial launch service provider and operates five locations worldwide for the production, operation and marketing of the Ariane program. Arianespace operates its launch services from South America (at the Spaceport in French Guiana) and Central Asia (at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazachstan).
The company was founded in 1980 and has its headquarters in Courcouronnes, France, near Paris. Arianespace, a subsidiary of The Arianegroup, launched more than 550 satellites since 1980. Total revenues in 2018 exceeded 1.4 billion euros.
On October 21st 2011 Arianespace launched the first Soyuz rocket ever from outside former Soviet territory. The payload was two Galileo navigation satellites.
Arianespace primary shareholders are its suppliers, in the various nations of the EU. Arianespace currently has 20 shareholders with France as the largest stakeholder (64%) in the Ariane development program. Other countries that support the program are Germany (20%), Belgium (3,5%), Denmark, Spain (2%), Italy (3%), The Netherlands (2%), Norway (0,1%), Sweden and Switzerland (2,7%).
Arianespace launched satellites for all major satellite operators, such as Intelsat, Eutelsat, Telesat, SKY Perfect JSAT from Japan, ISRO from India, Hellas-Sat (ArabSat) and many others.
Arianespace has operated various versions of the Ariane since the first launch in 1979:
Ariane 1, max payload mass 1.83 tonnes, first successful launch on December 24th 1979.
Ariane 2, max payload mass 2,27 tonnes, first successful launch on November 20th 1987.
Ariane 3, max payload mass 2,65 tonnes, first successful launch on August 4th 1984.
Ariane 4, with 6 versions: 40 (max payload mass 2,0 tonnes), 42P (max payload mass 2,7 tonnes), 44P (max payload mass 3.1 tonnes), 42L (max payload mass 3,3 tonnes), 42LP (max payload mass 3,8 tonnes), 44LP (max payload mass 4.3 tonnes), first successful launch on June 15th 1988),
Ariane 5, with 2 versions: Ariane 5ES (max payload to LEO: 21 tonnes) and Ariane 5ECA (max payload to GTO: 10,5 tonnes), first successful launch on October 30th 1997.
The new Ariane 6 rocket, developed by Ariane Group and its European industrial partners, would have a similar payload capacity to the Ariane 5 but has considerably lower costs. Ariane 6 will be available in two versions depending on the required performance: A62 with two strap-on boosters, and A64 with four.