About Arianespace

Latest milestones

• May 21, 2010
  Arianespace marks the 50th flight of Ariane 5 when this workhorse heavy-lift launcher successfully lofts the ASTRA 3B commercial telecommunications satellite and Germany's COMSATBw-2 secure military relay platform.
• May 8, 2010
  The no. 1 Soyuz assembled at the Spaceport completes its initial phase of integration with the mating of the four first-stage strap-on boosters to the Block A core second stage.  This will be the first Soyuz 2-1a vehicle to be operated from French Guiana by Arianespace.
• March 26, 2010
  Arianespace marks the 30th anniversary of its creation as the world's first commercial space transportation company. Now the world’s leading launch Service & Solutions provider, Arianespace has lofted more than half of all the commercial satellites currently in service worldwide.

Service & Solutions

Arianespace was founded in 1980 as the world’s first launch Service & Solutions company. It now has 24 shareholders from 10 European countries (including the French space agency CNES with 34%, EADS Astrium with 30% and all European companies participating in the production of Ariane 5 launchers). Since its creation, Arianespace has signed contracts with 73 customers and launched 277 payloads, accounting for more than half of the commercial satellites now in service.

In 2009, the company’s sales totaled 1,029.3 M€. As of January 1, 2010, Arianespace had 323 employees, including 253 at the company’s headquarters in Evry, near Paris, France; 59 at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, launch site for Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega; and 11 at international offices in Washington, D.C., Tokyo and Singapore.

Operations

Arianespace offers launch Service & Solutions to satellite operators from around the world, both private companies and government agencies. The Arianespace family of launchers comprises:

• Ariane 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle, operated at the Guiana Space Center (49 launches, including 35 successful launches in a row, as of January 2010). 

• Soyuz medium launcher, which has been operated at Baikonur, Kazakhstan, since 1999 (21 commercial launches, all successful), and will be launched at the Guiana Space Center starting in 2010.

• Vega light launcher, to be operated at the Guiana Space Center starting in 2010-2011.

In 2009, Arianespace performed seven Ariane 5 launches (all successful) and continued to prepare the first Vega and Soyuz launches from the Guiana Space Center.

Launch services leadership
 
Capitalizing on its range of launchers, proven reliability and availability, Arianespace has won more than half of the commercial launch contracts open to competition worldwide in the last two years. This gives it a very healthy order book, with the following coming from 28 customers (as of October 30, 2009):

• 29 satellites to be launched into geostationary transfer orbit, using Ariane 5 or Soyuz for the smaller spacecraft (11 new contracts signed in 2009).

• Six government launches by Ariane 5 with the ATV cargo vessel.

• 12 dedicated Soyuz launches (five new contracts signed in 2009).

Arianespace will continue its steady launch rate in 2010, with six or seven Ariane 5 launches planned. The first Soyuz and Vega launches from the Guiana Space Center are targeted for 2010-2011.

The technical performances of its launchers and a substantial order book have made Arianespace the world leader in satellite launch services for the last several years.

• Cliquez ici pour consulter la carte d’identité en français (28 Kb. PDF)