"the Ariane 4 managed to capture 50 per cent of the market in launching commercial satellites, soundly demonstrating Europe's ability to compete in the commercial launch sector. In February 2003, the final Ariane 4 was launched; Arianespace had decided to retire the type in favour of the newer and larger Ariane 5, which effectively replaced it in service. In 1973, eleven nations decided to pursue joint collaboration in the field of space exploration and formed a new pan-national organisation to undertake this mission, the European Space Agency (ESA). Six years later, in December 1979, the arrival of a capable European"
"Ariane 1 Ariane 1 was the first rocket in the Ariane family of expendable launch systems. It was developed and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), which had been formed in 1973, the same year that development of the launch had commenced. Ariane 1 was the first launcher to be developed with the primary purpose of sending commercial satellites into geosynchronous orbit. Crucially, it was designed with the ability of sending a pair of satellites into orbit on a single launcher, thus reducing costs. As the size of satellites grew, Ariane 1 quickly gave way to the more powerful"
"only flight of the Europa-II, which ended in failure due to a guidance problem. The launch site was mothballed, and later demolished. When the Ariane 1 programme was started, to replace the failed ELDO programme, a new launch site was built on the site of the former CECLES pad. This was designated Ensemble de Lancement Ariane (""ELA""). The first Ariane 1 launch occurred on 24 December 1979. ELA was also used by Ariane 2 and 3 rockets, which first flew on 31 May 1986 and 4 August 1984 respectively. ELA was redesignated ELA-1 when the Ariane 4 entered service in"
"that time. As a result of the commercial success, after the tenth Ariane mission was flown, the ESA transferred responsibility for Ariane over to Arianespace. The Giotto mission's spaceprobe was successfully launched on the tenth Ariane 1 mission, ""V-14"", on 2 July 1985. The first SPOT satellite was put into orbit by the eleventh and last launch of Ariane 1 on 22 February 1986. By early 1986, the Ariane 1, along with its Ariane 2 and Ariane 3 derivate, were the dominant launcher on the world market. Ariane 1 Ariane 1 was the first rocket in the Ariane family of"
"Amarillo, Texas and successfully again on 19 September 2004 at 12:15 local time in the Val de Ruz in the Canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Ariane (rocket family) Ariane is a series of a European civilian expendable launch vehicles for space launch use. The name comes from the French spelling of the mythological character Ariadne. France first proposed the Ariane project and it was officially agreed upon at the end of 1973 after discussions between France, Germany and the UK. The project was Western Europe's second attempt to develop its own launcher following the unsuccessful Europa project. The Ariane project was"
"were launched in pairs aboard Soyuz-U/Fregat rockets in 2000. The launch failure brought the high risks associated with complex computing systems to the attention of the general public, politicians, and executives, resulting in increased support for research on ensuring the reliability of safety-critical systems. The subsequent automated analysis of the Ariane code (written in Ada) was the first example of large-scale static code analysis by abstract interpretation. The failure also harmed the excellent success record of the European Space Agency's rocket family, set by the high success rate of the Ariane 4 model. It was not until 2007 that Ariane"
"embark upon larger space projects. In 1973, the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) - a precursor to the European Space Agency (ESA) - commenced development of a new civilian heavy expendable launch system, later known as the Ariane rocket. Some members of the ESA, such as the French space agency Centre National D'études Spatiales (CNES), held ambitions of greater capability and autonomy in space affairs to avoid an overreliance upon external partners, such as the activities and decisions of the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and envisaged the deployment of a European-built human-capable space vehicle that would operate"
"EA-41 was tested and improved by military personnel, from October 1942 through to 1945. 22 May 1952: Véronique N1 is successfully launched from the Saharan desert. In 1958, President Charles de Gaulle directed the creation of several space research committees. In 1959, the Comité d'études spatiales was born under the supervision of Pierre Auger. In 1961, de Gaulle signed the creation of the Centre National d' Etudes Spatiales (CNES) to coordinate French space activities. Development of Western Europe's first carrier rocket, the Diamant, began in 1962, first launched in Algeria. November 26, 1965: at 15h 47mn and 21s, Asterix, the"
"the first European lunar probe, SMART-1), in Flight 162. On 18 July 2004 an Ariane 5 G+ boosted what was at the time the heaviest telecommunication satellite ever, Anik F2, weighing almost . The first successful launch of the Ariane 5 ECA took place on 12 February 2005. The payload consisted of the XTAR-EUR military communications satellite, a 'SLOSHSAT' small scientific satellite and a MaqSat B2 payload simulator. The launch had been originally scheduled for October 2004, but additional testing and the military requiring a launch at that time (of a Helios 2A observation satellite) delayed the attempt. On 11"
"large commsat payload being transported to geosynchronous orbit. On March 26, 1980, the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) created Arianespace, the world's first commercial space transportation company. Arianespace produces, operates and markets the Ariane launcher family. During 1995 Arianespace lofted its 100th satellite and on 23 September 1997 the Ariane rocket had its 100th launch. Arianespace's 23 shareholders represent scientific, technical, financial and political entities from 10 different European countries. The major shareholder is the CNES, with 34.68% of capital. From the beginning of the Shuttle program until the ""Challenger"" disaster in 1986, it was"
"the Ariane family and other rockets, preparation activity for the rocket would be performed in a purpose-built 80-meter tall hall rather than on the pad itself; the completed rocket was then be transported using a specially-designed railway to slowly traverse from the hall to the launch pad, taking one hour. This railway provided the additional benefit of enabling faulty rockets to be withdrawn from the pad and be substituted for relatively quickly. On 15 June 1988, the first successful launch of the Ariane 4 was conducted. For this first test flight, it was decided to fire the most powerful version"
"expendable launch system was marked when the first Ariane 1 launcher was successfully launched from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana. The Ariane 1 soon became considered to be a capable and competitive launcher in comparison to rival platforms offered by the Soviet Union and the United States of America, and it was quickly followed by improved derivatives in the form of the Ariane 2 and Ariane 3. By early 1986, the Ariane 1, along with the Ariane 2 and Ariane 3, had become the dominant launcher on the world market. In January 1982, the ESA issued its"
"to repeat the mistakes of Europa. The company proposed to build a new heavy launch vehicle, which would later be called the Ariane, to take the place of Europea. While other European nations were invited to participate, it would be French officials that would be primarily responsible and make the most important decisions. This approach was agreed upon with several other nations; during 1979, the first Ariane performed its first flight, being an immediate success. With this, the French went on to gain a strong advantage over the United States, which had centred its efforts on the Space Shuttle. However,"
"to GTO, or alternatively 7600 kg to LEO. In June 1988, the inaugural flight of the Ariane 4 occurred, which was a success. Since then, Ariane 4 has flown 116 times, 113 of which were successful, yielding a success rate of . On 22 February 1990, the first failure occurred during the eighth Ariane 4 launch: the rocket exploding 9 km above Kourou. Following an exhaustive investigation, which found that an unknown foreign object had obstructed a water line, a total of 44 modifications were recommended to prevent any reoccurrence. The following 26 launches were all completed successfully thereafter. The"
"5 rockets have accumulated 102 launches since 1996, 97 of which were successful, yielding a success rate. Between April 2003 and December 2017, Ariane 5 flew 82 consecutive missions without failure, but the rocket suffered a partial failure in January 2018. All launches are from Kourou ELA-3. Ariane 5 had 18 missions on its launch manifest, including 15 for pairs of satellites. Up to seven launches were planned for the year 2018: five with dual communications satellites due to geosynchronous orbit, one with 4 Galileo satellites, and one carrying the BepiColombo mission. Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift"
"Ariane 2 and Ariane 3 launchers, which were heavily based upon the original rocket. The Ariane 4 was the last rocket to heavily draw upon the Ariane 1, as the successive Ariane 5 having been developed using a far greater level of all-new elements. In 1973, eleven European countries decided to pursue joint collaboration in the field of space exploration and formed a new pan-national organisation to undertake this mission, the European Space Agency (ESA). For some time prior to the ESA's formation, France had been lobbying for the development of a new European expendable launch system to serve as"
"Ariane 4 The Ariane 4 was an expendable launch system, designed by the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) while being manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Arianespace. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the final flight, which was performed on 15 February 2003, it attained 113 successful launches out of 116 launches to have been conducted. In 1982, the Ariane 4 programme was approved by the European Space Agency (ESA). Drawing heavily upon the preceding Ariane 3, it was designed to provide a launcher capable of delivering heavier payloads and at a lower cost per kilogram than"
"boosted 290 satellites, successfully placing 271 of them on orbit (223 main passengers and 48 auxiliary passengers) for a total mass of 575,000 kg successfully delivered on orbit. Attesting to the ubiquity of Ariane launch vehicles, France's Cerise satellite, which was orbited by an Ariane in 1995, struck a discarded Ariane rocket stage in 1996. The incident marked the first verified case of a collision with a piece of catalogued space debris. On February 16, 2011, the 200th Ariane rocket was launched, successfully carrying the Johannes Kepler ATV into low Earth orbit. Flyable models of the Ariane 4 and 5"
"Ariane (rocket family) Ariane is a series of a European civilian expendable launch vehicles for space launch use. The name comes from the French spelling of the mythological character Ariadne. France first proposed the Ariane project and it was officially agreed upon at the end of 1973 after discussions between France, Germany and the UK. The project was Western Europe's second attempt to develop its own launcher following the unsuccessful Europa project. The Ariane project was code-named L3S (the French abbreviation for third-generation substitution launcher). The European Space Agency (ESA) charged the EADS subsidiary Astrium, presently Airbus Defence and Space,"
"pressed by French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. For the first flight, designated as ""L-O1"" (Lancement [Launch] 01), the payload consisted of an Aeritalia-built test instrumentation system, known as CAT (Capsule Ariane Technologique), for the purpose of measuring all key stages of the ascent in great detail, such as noise, stress, acceleration, temperature, and pressure; this unit was also designed to simulate a real satellite payload. CAT was successfully placed into an orbit of 202 km by 35,753 km; the successful deployment of this payload indicated the end of the American monopoly on commercial satellite launches. On 26 March 1980, almost"
"1988, as this launched from a separate launch pad, designated ELA-2. The Ariane 1 was retired on 22 February 1986, the Ariane 2 on 2 April 1989, and the Ariane 3 on 12 July 1989. ELA was subsequently demolished. In November 2001 started the redevelopment of the pad to accommodate the Vega rocket and the ELA-1 was redesignated Ensemble de Lancement Vega (ELV). The reconstruction retained the Ariane 1 flame trench and added a new 50m tall retractable vertical assembly building to cover rocket during the preparation, four lighting protection masts and a new launch tower for the rocket. The"
"as being a superior design, partly due to reduce the cost of the project via the elimination of transition test launchers. It would still use the Blue Streak as the first stage. The ELDO later disagreed, but the French would ultimately get their way when Eldo B became the foundation for the later Ariane launcher, which would first launch in 1979. By April 1966, the project's estimated costs had increased to £150 million from an initial estimate of £70 million. By this point, hopes amongst several of the participants were not high that Europa would be suitable for the envisioned"
"and Germany. On November 5, 1971, Europa-2 was launched for the first time, but unsuccessfully. The failure of the rocket led to the consideration of a Europa-3 rocket design. However, Europa-3 was never created and the lack of funding prompted the merging of the European Launcher Development Organisation and the European Space Research Organization to form the European Space Agency. Overall, the European Launcher Development Organization planned eleven launches, only ten of which actually occurred. Of the nine actual launches, four were successful. Four other launches were unsuccessful and there was one launch that was terminated. The first launch, F-1,"
"was responsible for all early milestones of the French space program. France's first successful rocket launch, of the Véronique sounding rocket, was from CIEES on 22 May 1952. France's first satellite, the Astérix-1, was launched from CIEES on a Diamant rocket on 26 November 1965. CIEES was also the launch site for France's first animal in space: a cat named Félicette, launched to an altitude of on a Véronique rocket. She survived the flight, making her the only cat to do so. Due to CIEES's long period of operation, it launched a wide variety of rockets and missiles. With regard"
"Ariane 2 Ariane 2 was a European expendable carrier rocket, which was used for six launches between 1986 and 1989. It was a member of the Ariane family of rockets, and was produced by Aérospatiale in France. The Ariane 2 is similar to Ariane 3, without additional solid rocket boosters. Its payload capacity was increased to to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Ariane 2 first flew on 31 May 1986 carrying the Intelsat-5A F-14 satellite. The third stage had a partial ignition followed by another ignition above nominal pressure which led to the engine failure. Because upper stage was shared with"
"and Télécom 1A satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit. Eleven were launched with ten successes and one failure. The failure occurred on the fifth flight, launched on 12 September 1985, when the third stage failed to ignite resulting in the rocket failing to achieve orbit. The ECS-3 and Spacenet-3 satellites were lost in the failure. The Ariane 3 was quickly replaced by the more capable Ariane 4, resulting in a comparatively small number of launches. It made its final flight on 12 July 1989, carrying the Olympus F1 satellite. Ariane 3 Ariane 3 was a European expendable carrier rocket, which was"
"was persuaded to placed an order for two Intelsat IVs to be launched using Ariane. This was considered a major coup for the programme as Intelsat was viewed as heavily committed to using the rival Space Shuttle launcher for a large number of its satellites at that point. One week later, ESA announced its commitment to a production run of 10 Ariane 1 launchers. There was considerable pressure for Ariane to perform its maiden flight prior to end of 1979. It was decided that Ariane should launch on 15 December 1979 and, 38 hours prior the launch, the countdown was"
"ELA-1 ELA-1, short for Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 1 (French for Ariane Launch Area 1), now named Ensemble de Lancement Vega (short ELV), is a launch pad at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana. It has been used to support launches of the Europa rocket, Ariane 1, Ariane 3, and is currently used to launch Vega rockets. ELA-1, at the time designated Base Équatoriale du CECLES (""BEC"") was constructed as an equatorial launch site for the Europa-II rocket which was being built as part of the ELDO programme. The first launch occurred on 5 November 1971. This was the"
"a dust shield as proposed by Fred Whipple which comprised a thin (1 mm) aluminium sheet separated by a space and a thicker Kevlar sheet. The later ""Stardust"" spacecraft would use a similar Whipple shield. A mock up of the spacecraft resides at the Bristol Aero Collection hangar, at Filton, UK. The mission was given the go-ahead by ESA in 1980, and launched on an Ariane 1 rocket (flight V14) on 2 July 1985 from Kourou, French Guiana. The craft was controlled from the European Space Agency ESOC facilities in Darmstadt (then West Germany) initially in Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO)"
"was nearly identical in performance to the Ariane 5, focusing instead on lowering fabrication costs and launch prices. Development is projected to cost €4 billion. Its first test launch is set for not earlier than 16 July 2020. , Ariane 6 is projected to be launched for about €70 million per flight or about half of the Ariane 5 current price. Ariane 5's first test flight (Ariane 5 Flight 501) on 4 June 1996 failed, with the rocket self-destructing 37 seconds after launch because of a malfunction in the control software. A data conversion from 64-bit floating point value to"
"Arianespace SA delayed the expected January 2003 launch for the Rosetta mission to 26 February 2004, but this was again delayed to early March 2004 due to a minor fault in the foam that protects the cryogenic tanks on the Ariane 5. As of June 2017, the failure of the first ECA launch was the last failure of an Ariane 5; since then, 82 consecutive launches have been successful, from April 2003 with the launch of INSAT-3A and Galaxy 12 satellites, to flight 240 in December 2017. On 27 September 2003 the last Ariane 5 G boosted three satellites (including"
"system became the basis for European satellite launches with a record of 113 successful and three launch failures. Ariane 4 provided a payload increase from 1700 kg for Ariane 3 to a maximum of 4800 kg to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The record for Ariane 4 to GTO was 4946 kg. On 15 February 2003, the final launch of Ariane 4 rocket occurred, placing Intelsat 907 into geosynchronous orbit. Arianespace had decided to phase out the Ariane 4 launcher in favour of the newer heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket, which had already been in service for some years. In 2011, the"
"result. The failure of the first commercial flight had created a tense atmosphere along with a flurry of criticism being aired about the Ariane programme. Following the completion of a complete review of the programme, on 16 June 1983, the second commercial flight, ""L6"" was successfully launched into orbit. This began a run of successful flight for the launcher, the following 6 flights were all successes. As a result of the repeated successes, orders for the type increased quickly; by early 1984, a total of 27 satellites had been booked for Ariane, which was half of the world market at"