Vehicles in Operation
or under Development
Maurice DESLOIRE
To double the performance of a launcher such as Ariane 5 within
5 years is a good technical challenge, and to lower its price
by 50% simultaneously is even more challenging; but it is the only
solution for Europe to stay in the market!
II’ ::$hilst Ariane 5 was success-
,{:. .‘I‘,’
I ”
I_.::+ 2; fully completing its first
‘, ,_
,:i” commercial mission, on
10 December 1999, lifting
the XMM spacecraft into
a perfect orbit, 1aunch campaigns for
Ariane 4 flights were proceeding at full
speed. Following the 50th consecutive
success on 3 December 1999, Ariane 4
ended the year with flight 125 on 21 De-
cember 1999, the third Ariane launch in
three weeks and the eighth in just four
and a half months!
With the 126th launch of Ariane 4 on
24 January 2000, an unbroken series of
52 successes was established: Ariane 4
become the most reliable commercial
launcher.
Twenty years after the first Ariane flight
(LOl) on 24 December 1979, these success-
es demonstrate the progress made by
Europe in the field of space transporta-
tion. Twenty years after this major Euro-
pean achievement, 125 Arianes have
been launched from French Guiana.
From Ariane 1 to Ariane 5 (f$pre Z), the
launcher payload capability has been
multiplied by almost four. Europe, with
Arianespace, is now leader in the
commercial space transportation market,
and possesses an new heavy reliable
and powerful launcher with Ariane 5.
And in 1999 too, Starsem - a Franco-
Russian company -has successfully laun-
ched 6 times the Soyouz vehicle to place
into orbit 24 satellites for the Globalstar
constellation.
Tomorrow could seem to be easy for the
European launchers, but competitors are
more and more numerous. The market
requirements change every day, and the
launcher industry political background
has completely changed since the begin-
ning of the Ariane 5 development. The
Russian and Ukrainian space industries,
which had a good technological back-
ground in launchers, are entering the com-
mercial space market, offering prices be-
low those of the West. China is offering
launch services with the Long March
launcher family Japan is developing the
H2A launcher family to enter the commer-
cial market. The US develop in parallel
two families of Evolved Expendable Launch
Vehicle, the Atlas 5 from Lockheed-Martin
and the Delta 4 from Boeing.
Together with Ariane 4, Ariane 5 and
Soyouz launchers operated by Ariane-
space and Starsem, the current operatio-
nal launchers in the world are in 2000
(figure 2):
l the Delta 2 and Delta 3 family opera-
ted by Boeing;
l the Atlas 2, 2A and 2AS family
operated by ILSlLockheed-Martin;
l the Proton-Russian launch vehicle
operated by ILS/Lockheed-Martin;
l the Ukrainian Zenith launch vehicle
operated by Sea Launch/Boeing;
l the Chinese Long March in version
CZ2,CZ3A,3B,3C...
and in the near future:
l the Delta 4 family from Boeing, the
Atlas 3A, 38 and 5 family from Lock-
heed-Martin as well as the Japanese
H2A launcher.
In order to still remain competitive in
the next decade, it is necessary for
Europe to adapt Ariane 5 to new market
requirements and environments. This
means:
l lowering the cost by 50%;
l increasing the payload performances
in Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO)
from 6 metric tonnes to 10 metric tonnes
in 2002 and 12 metric tonnes in 2006;
l increasing the versatility, availability,
comfort for the payload,. . .
This will be a difficult challenge, but
one which cannot be by-passed and
which must be won! I
About the Author:
Maurice DESLOIRE is Technical Direc-
tor at the Launch Vehicles Directorate
of the French Space Agency (Centre
National d’itudes Spatiales - CNES).
For further information,
please contact;
Mich&e BOURELLY
CNES
Centre Spatial d’Evry
Rot-d Point de I’bpace
91023 Evry cedex, France
Tel.: +33 1 60 87 74 25
Fax: +33 1 60 a7 74 a9
michele.bourellyQcnes.fr
 Satellite Launchers

Figure 1. From Ariane 10 1 - 24 December 1979 (on the left), to Ariane 504 - IO December 1999 (on the right).
(Doe. Arianespace)

ARIANE 5 LAUNCHER AND ITS MAlN COMPETITORS

LES LANCEURS CONCURRENTS D’ARIANE (HORS EELV)

ARIANE 5 DELTA 3 ATLAS 2AR ATLAS 2ARS ATLAS 2ARS+ PROTON M SEA LAUNCH
2*3000 kg 3800 kg 4030 kg 4300 kg 5000 kg 5500 kg 5400 kg

PAYLOAD CAPACJTY IN GTO

Figracd2. Ariane 5 and its rnuin competitors,excluding the Evoh& mnded Launch Vehicles. Also shown is the
payload capacity in GTO On kg). (Dot. Arianespacel

AIR & SPACE EUROPE l VOL. 2 l No 2 - 2000