Feature story
Arianespace builds on its 2005 success as the company looks to retain its industry leadership during the next decade
January 4, 2006
Arianespace enters the New Year in a position of competitive strength and is poised to build on its 2005 successes, which included an industry-leading launch rate and the signing of new contracts to further expand its already-strong payload backlog.
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Speaking to journalists at the company's annual New Year's press conference today, CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall said the 11 satellites orbited in 2005 by Ariane 5 and Soyuz launchers - combined with the nine new launch orders signed last year by the company and its Starsem affiliate - have placed Arianespace "at its full cruise speed."
Launch activity in 2005 was marked by the eight satellites lofted by five Ariane 5s from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana (using three Ariane 5 Generic versions and two increased-performance Ariane 5 ECA launchers), plus Starsem's trio of Soyuz missions that orbited three additional satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
"In a year when Arianespace marked its 25-year anniversary, we clearly demonstrated our company's strengths: a flexible family of launchers, the capability to provide true backup solutions, and a service offer that can be customized to best meet the needs of our customers," Le Gall told international journalists at the breakfast briefing in Paris.
During 2005, Arianespace signed orders to launch seven additional payloads, increasing its backlog of spacecraft to be launched to 37, which is the industry's strongest. The new contracts were for Brazil's Star One C2 multi-mission relay spacecraft, the high-power AMC 18 satellite for SES GLOBAL, BSAT 3A for the Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation of Japan, Shin Satellite's Thaicom 5 spacecraft, the European Space Agency's Herschel and Planck space science platforms, and the UK Ministry of Defense Skynet 5C military telecom platform for EADS-Astrium.
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Also during the past year, Arianespace's Starsem affiliate signed an additional two launch orders in 2005, bringing this company's backlog to five. Starsem has become an important element of Arianespace's overall launch system flexibility, and Le Gall noted this company will be marking its 10th anniversary in 2006.
Looking forward to the upcoming 12 months, Arianespace plans another full year of launch operations. This will begin February 21 when an Ariane 5 ECA carries another of its trademark dual payloads (with the HOT BIRD 7A broadcast satellite for Eutelsat and the Spainsat governmental telecommunications platform), while Starsem is scheduled to begin its operations on April 14 by using a Soyuz to orbit the GIOVE-B demonstrator spacecraft for the Galileo space-based navigation system.
Arianespace is targeting a total of 5-6 Ariane 5 missions in 2006, while Starsem is to perform three Soyuz flights from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the 12-month period.
Le Gall said Arianespace plans to maintain its industry leadership position during the next five years by using its unmatched resources that include the capable, mature Ariane 5 and Soyuz launch vehicles; the modern launch infrastructure at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana; the introduction of Soyuz and Vega launch operations at the Spaceport (joining Ariane 5 in 2008); and the know-how of Arianespace, which encompasses its unparalleled launch capacity, as well as the assured backup provided through the company's participation in the Launch Services Alliance.
"By 2010, our objective is to be performing 10 launches annually from Europe's Spaceport, with this total composed of 5-6 Ariane 5 flights, two to three Soyuz missions, and one or two Vega launches," Le Gall concluded. "In addition to this payload lift capacity, Arianespace will continue to reinvent itself to ensure our services are best tailored to the needs of our clients, no matter how their requirements evolve."
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