With America's heavy lifters -- Boeing's Delta IV and Lockheed
Martin's Atlas V -- both unqualified successes in their first
two launches each, it was imperative that Arianespace shrug off
the recent failure of its Ariane 5 heavy lift rocket and put a
"win" in the column for 2003.
Well, there were cheers of success in Kourou, French Guyana, in
April when the baseline version of Ariane 5 brought to geostationary
transfer orbit two telecommunication satellites-India's INSAT-3
and the U.S. satellite Galaxy XII, for PanAmSat.
It was the first Ariane 5 launch since December, when the liftoff
of the high-power version of Ariane 5 failed, with the loss of
Eutelsat's Hot Bird 7 direct-broadcast satellite and a telcom
research satellite owned by the French government. The failed
mission was the first flight of a new cryogenic upper stage (not
implicated in the accident) which would have permitted an Ariane
5 ESC-A to put two satellites weighing a combined 10,000 kg into
geostationary transfer orbit.
For scientists, the greater loss was not the rocket, but the indefinite
delay of the Rosetta mission, which was scheduled for launch on
Ariane 5 this past January on a multi-year mission to study the
comet Wirtanen.
Studies of the Vulcain-2 main engine on the Ariane 5 ESC-A point
to a problem with the exhaust nozzle cooling system. The earliest
the ECA is expected to fly again is around the New Year. An even
more powerful Ariane 5, the ESC-B, is also under development.
Powered by the new Vinci engine, the ESC-B will increase GTO payload
performance to 11,000- 12,000 kg, and is expected to make its
maiden flight in 2006.
The December failure was the second for Ariane 5 (flaws in software
led to the failure of Ariane 5's flight control system in its
inaugural flight.) In addition, satellites have failed to reach
their proper orbits in two other launches.
The successful April launch of Ariane 5 was of the basic version
of the booster, powered by a Vulcain-1 engine which can loft six
tons to GTO. It was the 15th successful flight of the baseline
Ariane 5 since 1996.
The Ariane 5's next launch, Flight 161 in the Arianespace log,
was scheduled for just before the Paris Air Show, on June 11,
using a standard Ariane 5G launch vehicle to orbit the dual satellite
payload of Optus and Defence C1 for the Australians, and BSAT-2c
for the Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation of Japan
Ariane 5 is the work of a European industrial team with 20 years'
experience in building and operating Ariane. Launcher production
is directed by Arianespace through eight prime contractors, with
an industrial network based on the capabilities of companies in
12 European countries with the resources of 12,000 people in Europe
and French Guyana.
The following companies are the primary contractors on Ariane
5. The "industrial architect," as Arianespace puts it,
is EADS. Prime contractor for the payload fairing is Contraves
Space, with subcontractors: Dassault, F&W Emnen, Framatome,
and Raufoss.
EADS is the prime for the payload adapters. The vehicle equipment
bay comes from prime contractor Astrium, with subcontractors:
Alcatel Denmark, Alcatel ETCA, EADS, Crisa, Dassault, Framatome,
In-Snec, Raufoss, Saab Ericsson Space, and Thales.
EADS is the prime for the storable propellant upper stage, with
other systems provided by Alcatel Denmark, Aljo, Dassault, Franke,
Industria, Moog, Rellumix, Raufoss, Walther, Witzemann, and Zeppelin.
The main cryogenic stage comes from EADS, with subcontractors
Alcatel ETCA, Alcatel Kirk, Cryospace, Elecma, Fokker Space, Intertechnique,
MAN Technologie, Sabca, Saft, and SAT.
The solid rocket motor prime contractor is Europropulsion, with
assistance from Andritz, FiatAvio, MAN Technologie, Regulus, and
SNECMA. EADS is responsible for the solid rocket boosters, with
subcontractors Fokker Space, Kongsberg, Raufoss, and Sabca.
The main Vulcain propulsion system prime is SNECMA, with help
from Auxitrol, Avica, EADS, Devtec, Fagor, FiatAvio, MAN Technologie,
MCG, Microtecnica, SNR, Stork, Techspace Aero, and Vibrometer.
