ESA Approves EADS Arianespace design for next-generation Ariane 6 rocket

An Ariane 5 rocket carrying two satellites sits on the launch pad on February 6, 2013 at the European space centre of Kourou, French Guiana.

The European Space Agency (ESA) on Tuesday said it had approved the final design for a next-generation rocket, Ariane 6, aimed at maintaining Europe's grip on the fast-changing market for satellite launches.

ESA ministers gave political approval for the scheme in Naples, Italy, last November, and since then the agency's experts have been working with Europe's space industry to hammer out the design.

Ariane 6 is sketched as a lower-cost flexible launcher able to place a single payload of between three and 6.5 tonnes in geostationary orbit—the popular parking slot for telecommunications satellites.

ESA's current flagship launcher is the bigger and highly reliable Ariane 5, a multiple-payload launcher that is expensive to operate.

It requires support of 120 million euros ($154 million) each year, at a time when sleek US entrepreneurs are starting to nibble at the satellite market.

In a press release, ESA said the design was for a three-stage vehicle.

Its first stage would comprise three motors, set in a line as opposed to a more conventional "cluster" configuration, that would be powered by 135 tonnes of solid propellant.

The second stage will also be driven by a solid-propellant motor.

An Ariane 5 rocket carrying two satellites sits on the launch pad at the European space centre of Kourou, French Guiana, on on February 6, 2013. 

The European Space Agency (ESA) on Tuesday said it had approved the final design for a next-generation rocket, Ariane 6, aimed at maintaining Europe's grip on the fast-changing market for satellite launches.

The third will be propelled by a planned liquid-fuelled engine, Vinci, designed to be restartable rather than a single-burn motor, to give more options for placing payloads in complex orbits.

If all goes well, Ariane 6 will make its maiden flight in 2021 or 2022, becoming Europe's workhorse launcher for the next decade.

Jean-Yves Le Gall, head of France's National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), said the rocket's smaller size and newer technology would make Ariane 6 launches 30 percent cheaper than those of Ariane 5, which cost about 100 million euros per six-tonne satellite.

Around four billion euros in investment will be needed, mainly coming from countries whose industries will get most of the work.

The decision to back Ariane 6 set France at odds with Germany, whose industrialists complained that its development time was way too long.

Under a compromise, ministers backed a tweak of the Ariane 5 called Ariane 5 ME—for "Midlife Evolution"—that would be ready by 2017 at a putative cost of two billion euros.

It would be the first rocket to use the new Vinci upper-stage engine.

Its payload capacity would be two satellites of more than five tonnes each, hoisted to geostationary orbit, providing a 20-percent gain in cost over the present EADS Ariane 5 ECA and ES models, according to prime contractor EADS Astrium.

Under the deal, EADS Arianespace's Ariane 6 will incorporate as much of the Ariane 5 ME technology as possible to save waste and time.

Stephane israel: Arianespace's New chief urges Ariane 5 modification for big satellites

The new head of European satellite launch firm Arianespace on Tuesday called for a fast-track modification of the Ariane 5 launcher to help it place larger satellites into orbit.

Stephane Israel, who took over as Arianespace's chairman and chief executive from Jean-Yves Le Gall in April, said in an interview that he considered the plan one of his "two main priorities."

Just last November, ministers of the European Space Agency (ESA) agreed after tough debate to fund a new launcher called Ariane 5 ME, and work towards a successor rocket, Ariane 6, whose maiden flight would be in 2021 or 2022.

But Israel said he also wanted a "fast-track adaptation" of the existing Ariane 5 ECA, "which would be available in less than two years." He described it as a "quick win."

It would slightly increase payload volume, enabling the rocket to handle larger electric-propelled satellites, one of the most promising areas of the satellite-launch market.

"Our analysis is that satellites are going to be more voluminous, so we need to gain a bit of space under the fairing," or nose-cone, he said in a press interview.

The proposed "Ariane 5 ECA Adaptation" would not affect plans for the Ariane 5 ME and Ariane 6, he said.
"The cost would be very limited, in the region of several dozen million euros" (dollars), he said.

Arianespace markets the services of Ariane, the Russian-made medium-range Soyuz and the lightweight Vega at ESA's base at Kourou, French Guiana.

The ministerial decision in Naples last November was a compromise between leading ESA members France and Germany, and came at a time of tightening budget constraints.

France had been pushing for a smaller, sleeker Ariane 6, able to deal with one or multiple payloads up to about six tonnes, to meet an expected trend towards smaller satellites.

It would require investment of about four billion euros ($5.2 billion).

Industrialists preferred a DLR, German-backed option, an Ariane 5 ME (for "Midlife Evolution"), able to carry two large satellites each weighing five to six tonnes, and using a new engine from Snecma, the Vinci, that can perform controlled shutdowns and reignites, allowing it to drop off payloads in different orbits.

It would be ready by 2017 at a putative cost of two billion euros ($2.6 billion).

In the end, engineers will push ahead with the ME but try to ensure that its technology is compatible with the Ariane 6.

At the same time, ESA will carry out a review this year of the fast-changing market for satellite launches.