Feature story
Rémy Kocher: Profile of a Veteran Arianespace Mission Director
April 18, 2003
The launch of Flight 160 on April 9 marked another success for Ariane 5 and two of Arianespace's long-time customers.
One of the key players for this highly accurate flight was Rémy Kocher, an Arianespace veteran who has performed the Mission Director duties on a total of 24 launches with Ariane 5s, Ariane 4s and the Russian Soyuz vehicle operated by Arianespace affiliate Starsem.
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| Rémy Kocher, at right, watches as the INSAT 3A team confirms a successful deployment by Flight 160's Ariane 5. |
As an Arianespace Mission Director, Kocher is responsible for ensuring that preparations with the flight's three key elements - its launch vehicle, the Spaceport launch facilities, and the customer payloads - all move ahead smoothly and are ready on time for the targeted liftoff date.
In addition, he is the single point of contact for a flight's customers throughout the launch campaign, coordinating their requests with mission operations and verifying that all the necessary support is provided.
Arianespace introduced the Mission Director concept to the commercial launch services industry when the company was created in 1980, providing a top-level manager whose goal is to guarantee that customer needs are taken into account from the start of a launch campaign to its completion.
"My career with Arianespace has allowed me to be involved with both European and Russian launcher campaigns, which gives me excellent experience on a full range of well organized and professional launch systems," he explained
Two very different satellite teams for Flight 160
For Flight 160, Kocher worked with two distinctly different spacecraft teams from opposite sides of the world. "One of the pleasures of my job is to be associated with satellite professionals with varied cultures, who often have different approaches to their work," he said. "As the Mission Director, it is up to me to ensure that everything comes together for a smooth flight."
Flight 160's INSAT 3A payload was produced by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which has flown satellites on Ariane vehicles since June 1981, when the country's first spacecraft - Apple - was orbited by an Ariane 1.
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| Flight 160's dual satellite payload: GALAXY XII (left) and INSAT 3A. |
"ISRO is a very professional organization. Their satellite teams are among the best in the world, and they have excellent flexibility in dealing with any situation during a launch campaign," Kocher said. "Arianespace has a long relationship with ISRO, and we have built up a very high level of mutual confidence over the years."
INSAT 3A was the 10th Indian payload launched on Ariane. The 2,950-kg satellite will provide telecommunications and TV transmission services for the Indian subcontinent, while also carrying out a meteorological observation mission. In addition, the three-axis stabilized platform is fitted with a search and rescue payload.
ISRO's confidence in Arianespace and the Ariane 5 was reconfirmed by the space agency's post-Flight 160 announcement that it was booking two additional missions for its INSAT 4A and INSAT 4B satellites.
Making the customers feel at home in Kourou
"I've been the Arianespace Mission Director on most of the INSAT missions, and I particularly enjoy working with the Indians - who have an extremely rich culture," Kocher said. "For the ISRO teams, it used to be a real shock when they came to Kourou and the tropical environment of French Guiana. But Arianespace's efforts to make all customers feel at home with our on-site support programs at Kourou has really made a difference."
The other satellite orbited by Flight 160 was GALAXY XII, a spacecraft for the American PanAmSat constellation built by U.S. manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp. Galaxy XII was the 18th satellite launched by Arianespace for PanAmSat, one of its longest-standing customers. The relationship between Arianespace and this leading private satellite operator goes back to June 1988, when PanAmSat's first satellite - PAS-1 - was launched on the Ariane 4's maiden flight.
GALAXY XII manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp. has become a regular at Kourou, having had several other of its smaller STAR family satellite platforms carried on Ariane vehicles.
"The Orbital/PanAmSat team was all business - very professional, autonomous and well organized," Kocher said. "Their launch campaign was extremely short, and it befitted from the experience gained during past missions with Ariane."
Both the GALAXY XII and INSAT 3A were handled in the S5 facility - the Spaceport's massive new payload preparation building that allows all checkout and fueling operations to be handled under one roof. Prior to the S5's introduction, satellites had to be moved between buildings at the Spaceport, requiring preparation, installation inside a protective container for the transfer, followed by removal from the container once in the new location.
"The S5 facility is really appreciated by all of our customer teams," Kocher said. "It is the most modern center of its type, and leads directly to a shorter, more streamlined launch campaign."
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