At its traditional new-greetings meeting with journalists in Paris, Arianespace announced on 4 January five new contracts to kick off 2005… a year that also marks the company’s 25th anniversary. The contracts cover two satellites for Britain’s Ministry of Defense and three craft for the French space agency CNES.
Contracts for the five new payloads were concluded at the end of last year and bring the total number signed in 2004 to 12. The current backlog now stands at 40 satellites to launch, 35 on Ariane and the others on Soyuz, three performed from Kourou, the others from Baikonur. In addition, affiliate company Starsem has a backlog of five other satellites to be launched on commercial Soyuz vehicles under its responsibility.
The British Ministry of Defense’s Skynet 5A and Skynet 5B military communications satellites will be launched under a contract attributed by prime contractor EADS Astrium and Paradigm Secure Communications. They will be orbited from French Guiana aboard Ariane 5 vehicles in the second half of 2006 and the second half of 2007. Both spacecraft will weigh approximately 4,700 kg. at launch, and are to be placed into geostationary transfer orbit.
Colin Paynter, managing director at EADS Astrium Ltd, explained – in an EADS communiqu?© – that “Arianespace offered the best and less risky launch solution combined with a great flexibility and lower cost“. It can be recalled that several Skynet and European defense satellites, also built by Astrium and former Matra, have been launched by US vehicles (Skynet 4A on Titan, and Skynet 4D, Nato 4A and Nato 4B on Delta).
Two Earth observation satellites belonging to the Pl?©iades dual civil and military programme are to be launched from Kourou in 2008 and 2009 by Soyuz and deployed in heliosynchronous orbit. Manufactured by EADS Astrium, they will weigh about one metric ton each. Alcatel Space is to supply the high-resolution instruments and image telemetry systems.
Corot is a French astronomy mission to search for planets outside our solar system. It is scheduled to be orbited from Baikonur in mid-2006 on the maiden flight of the Soyuz 2-1b launch vehicle. Weighing 630 kg. at launch, the satellite will be carried on the maiden flight of the improved Soyuz version that subsequently will be operated from the Guiana spaceport. The Corot satellite is based on the Proteus multi-mission platform built by Alcatel Space (like the Jason satellites), and will be placed into polar orbit at an altitude of 850 kilometers.
At the Paris gathering, Arianespace CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall confirmed that the next Ariane 5 flight, the first qualification mission of the revised ECA vehicle, was still scheduled for February 11. A full-scale launch countdown rehearsal – with the vehicle moved to the launch zone – is scheduled for January 12 before it returns to the Final Assembly building to receive its two payloads.
In addition to Flight 164, Arianespace plans five other Ariane 5 missions in 2005, using two or three heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA versions, with the remaining launches performed by Ariane 5 Generic vehicles. Also planned in 2005 are three commercial Soyuz launches to be carried out from Baikonur Cosmodrome by Arianespace’s Starsem affiliate.
Looking to the New Year, Le Gall said Arianespace was entering 2005 in a strong financial position. He said the company had streamlined its employment to a level of 250 people, and completed a 63-million euro recapitalization in 2004. “There are discussions over a possible second slice this year,” said Le Gall. Arianespace has 23 shareholders, the main ones being CNES with 32,5% and EADS, main industrial partner, with 27,03%.
Although the company will only publish its annual figures next spring, Le Gall said Arianespace’s revenue reached approximately 700 million euros in 2005, placing the company in the black for another year. In 2003, the company had made an operating profit of 9,2 million euro with a turnover of 559 million euro, after three years of losses.
In addition to its internal restructuring, part of the company’s recovery is due to the EGAS programme of support, 960 million euro over five years, decided by the European Space Agency in February 2004.
Updated/maj. 05-01-2005
Views: 1
