The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

36 Ariane
orbit on the 11th launch attempt along with the secondary
payloads Ørsted and Sunsat.
Launch
Date: February 23, 1999
Vehicle: Delta 7925
Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base
Orbit: 825 × 839 km × 98.8°
Ariane
A series of launch vehicles developed by ESA (European
Space Agency). The decision to develop an autonomous
European access to space was taken at the same meeting, in
Brussels in July 1973, at which ministers also agreed to set
up the European Space Agency. The maiden flight of Ariane
1 on December 24, 1979, marked Europe’s arrival on
the international satellite launch market. Changing payload
requirements prompted the development of the Ariane
2 and 3 in the early 1980s, then the Ariane 4, and most
recently the Ariane 5. In March 1980, Arianespace was
formed to handle Ariane production and commercialization.
Launches take place from the Guiana Space Centre.
(See table, “Comparison of the First Three Arianes.”)
Ariane 1
Europe’s first successful commercial launch vehicle, designed
to carry two communications satellites at once. Its
development took eight years and was based on the design
of a replacement rocket for the ELDO (European
Launcher Development Organisation) Europa. Ariane 1
flew 11 times from 1979 to 1986, failed twice, and
launched a number of communications and other satellites,
and the Giotto probe to Halley’s Comet.
Ariane 2/Ariane 3
Upgrades that provided more lift capability. The first and
third stages of the Ariane 2 and 3 were lengthened from
those of their predecessor to enable a longer burn time,
and the engines of stages one, two, and three were increased
in thrust. Ariane 3 had strap-on solid- or liquidpropellant
boosters for additional power and flexibility.
Out of a total of 17 launches, Ariane 2 flew successfully 5
Comparison of the First Three Arianes
times between 1987 and 1989, and Ariane 3 flew 11 times
from 1984 to 1989.
Ariane 4
A family of six medium- to heavy-lift launch vehicles. The
Ariane 4 family builds upon a three-stage liquid-propellant
core vehicle, the Ariane 40. The Ariane 42P adds two solid
strap-on motors, the Ariane 42L two liquid strap-ons. The
Ariane 44P and Ariane 44L use four solid and four liquid
boosters, respectively. The Ariane 44LP uses two solid and
two liquid strap-on boosters. The Ariane 44L, the most
powerful Ariane 4 variant with four liquid boosters, can
place more than 4,500 kg into geostationary transfer orbit
(GTO). Since its inaugural flight in June 1988, the Ariane
4 has flown more than 100 times and captured almost half
the commercial GTO market. Its deployment of two communications
satellites in March 2002 marked its 68th successful
launch, dating back to 1995. In 2003, Ariane 4 will
be retired in favor of the next-generation Ariane 5.
Ariane 5
Originally designed as both a commercial satellite and a
manned spacecraft launch vehicle with an LEO (low
Earth orbit) payload capacity sufficient to orbit the Hermes
space plane. After Hermes was cancelled, Ariane 5
was converted to a strictly commercial heavy-lift launcher.
Built around a central core with a single liquid hydrogen/liquid
oxygen Vulcan engine, it uses two large solid
rocket boosters to provide a major fraction of its initial
thrust. A small storable-propellant second stage is used for
final velocity and insertion maneuvers. After a failure on
its first launch attempt in 1996 in which the original Cluster
mission was lost, Ariane 5 came through a subsequent
test launch successfully in October 1997 and made its first
successful operational flight in December 1999, carrying
ESA’s XMM (X-ray Multi-Mirror) observatory. Five more
successful commercial launches followed through March
2001, but an upper-stage failure during a July 2001 launch
left two valuable communications satellites, including
ESA’s own ARTEMIS, in incorrect orbits. Ariane 5’s first
two launches of 2002—its 11th and 12th in all—successfully
orbited the European Envisat 1 and the Stellat 5 and
N-star C communications satellites. Future developments,
Ariane 1 Ariane 2 Ariane 3
Height 47.4 m 49 m 49 m
Diameter 3.8 m 3.8 m 3.8 m
Liftoff mass 210 tons 219 tons 237 tons
Maximum payload 1,830 kg 2,270 kg 2,650 kg