Ariane father figure dies

For all those who have closely followed the development and history of European space and particularly the Ariane rockets, the news will be felt with much sorrow. Hubert Curien, one of the principal artisans of the launcher has died, aged 80.

As a regular visitor to the Toulouse space centre I met Hubert Curien many times in the late seventies and eighties. Coming from France’s National Research Council which he had managed from 1969-1973, he had become director general of CNES between 1969 and 1973, and then presided the French space agency between 1976 and 1984.

In parallel, he was the first chairman of the European Space Agency between 1979-1984. In these positions of responsibility and later as a Minister for Research he was a key figure in guiding the Ariane launcher programme to its first flights and later commercial success. He and Roy Gibson, ESA’s first director-general, created the system of “just returns”, which persuaded other countries to join the agency.

It was during his presidency of CNES that this “calm and obstinate” man – as he described himself – rekindled the French space agency’s ambitions and gave it new financial resources. He considered France as the key actor to build European space and to give it an ‘autonomous access to space’. He was a “true European, very conscious of France’s role, a very adroit negociator, with much finesse and tact,” according to Roger-Maurice Bonnet, former Director of Science at the European Space Agency.

Curien once recalled the words of NASA’s administrator who he had received in his first days at CNES. Jim Fletcher had told him : “We consider the French as excellent engineers, but why are you so hell-bent on spending what little money you have on a rocket which is already obsolete before being born?” We know the rest of the story.

Curien gave CNES the means to develop its satellite telecommunications and Earth observation activities. These were to be key elements of France’s technological prosperity for following years. Curien did not neglect space science and build the cooperative system with national institutes funding instruments on CNES and ESA missions. He also reinforced bilateral links with the Soviet Union, and made sure that French scientists were present on Russian missions, such those to Venus. He also gave the country the means to fly its own astronauts.

Just consider the events that occurred during his time at CNES : first Ariane flight in 1979, creation of Arianespace, first French astronaut Jean-Loup Chr?©tien, start of the Spot programme, first French participation in ESA’s science missions (Giotto, Hipparcos), and first studies on Ariane 5.

One former astronaut has not forgotten what she owes to Hubert Curien. Claudie Haigner?©, France’s first woman astronaut who later herself became Minister for Science and Technology, said she mourned this “great man always eager to show the beautiful pictures of scientific success such as those of manned space flight.“

Curien also knew how to wield the axe. In his second spell as minister of research and technology, he found that the development cost of the Hermes mini-space shuttle was soaring. He did not hesitate to cancel what had become a national icon. “When you have to cross a fast-flowing river,” he said, “it is best to go with the tide.“

Beneath his bushy eyebrows and somewhat austere appearance which inspired respect and a certain distance, he was very attentive to the sometimes naive questions that journalists like myself could put to him. But on several occasions, I had the chance to discover a very sensitive and delicate man, motivated by great desire to be thorough and honest in all his undertakings.

Curien was so respected in the circles of power that in 1986 he was chosen by Jacques Chirac to head the country’s Defence Science Council – and two years later he accepted to chair Fran?ßois Mitterrand’s election campaign. In tribute, today’s present prime minister, Jean Pierre Raffarin said: “Curien was a man of conviction who knew how to overcome differences when things were in the national interest.“

Hubert Curien was a scientist at heart, quiet spoken, modest, cautious. After getting a Physics doctorate, he had taught crystallography, before being swept up into France’s space activities. He continued teaching throughout his career to keep a close contact with the ground issues of academia.

After presiding the CNES agency, he twice accepted to serve as France’s Minister of Research and Technology, between 1984-1986 and again between 1988-1993, overseeing space affairs. More recently, he had been the President of France’s Academy of Sciences.

It was during this period, in 2003, that I last met him. I had hosted a seminar in Toulouse at which Hubert Curien was a guest speaker. We had not seen each other for sometime, but the little twinkle in the eyes showed that he had not forgotten our many encounters over the years.

Once again he was particularly attentive, in an informal discussion, about the changing attitudes to space communication which is given less and less attention and budgets by the space agency hierarchies. Rockets, and space science – people were saying – no longer interested the public. Hubert Curien could not accept such arguments.

[His kindliness, today from above, would prevent him from deploring the absence on the CNES web site of any mention of his passing, several days after his death. Those who worked with him Toulouse, who consider they have lost “their father”, do not know what to think of the present management. But it is true that morale is not high at CNES today. However a minimalist four-paragraph page was finally posted on 10 February. Enfin!]

Hubert Curien’s great humanity also led him to preside over the affairs of one of France’s foremost charitable organisations, the Fondation de France.

“With his passing, Europe and ESA loose not only one of their founders who played a prime role in defining and implementing European space policy, and in particular Ariane, but also a great man and friend,” says ESA Director-general Jean-Jacques Dordain. “We retain the souvenir of someone who defended the cause of space with determination, but also of a man with exceptional human qualities.“

The news of his passing will sadden many people in France and throughout Europe. Scientists, technicians and managers of the Ariane programme will no doubt have Hubert Curien in their thoughts when, in a few days, the European launcher embarks on another, most crucial journey. Indeed flight V164 should be dedicated to this father figure of European space.