Feature story
Ariane 5 is given a high-profile presence at Orbital Sciences Corp.’s headquarters facility
December 3, 2009
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Ariane 5’s role in launching Orbital Sciences Corp. family of STAR™ telecommunications satellites has been acknowledged with the prominent display of a large-scale model of this workhorse vehicle at the company’s U.S. headquarters.
Arianespace Chairman & CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall formally presented the 1/20th scale Ariane 5 model today, which is located in the lobby of Building #3 of Orbital’s headquarters facility in Dulles, Virginia near Washington, D.C. The scale model was accepted by Orbital Chairman and CEO David W. Thompson.
A total of 16 STAR-series satellites have been lofted by Arianespace to date, representing the majority of Orbital’s small geosynchronous satellites delivered in space for its international customer base. Most of these were carried on Ariane 5 missions.
“You have entrusted a significant percentage of Orbital’s STAR satellites to Arianespace for launch, and we thank you for your confidence,” Le Gall said during a handover ceremony for the Ariane 5 model this afternoon.
Orbital STAR satellites are designed to provide direct-to-home TV broadcasting, cable program distribution, business data network capacity, regional mobile communications and other services. The first platform in this series, IndoStar–1 (also known as Cakrawarta 1), was launched by Arianespace in 1997.
Thompson thanked Arianespace for its launch services during the past 12 years, and also paid tribute to the company’s pioneering role in the commercialization of space.
“In receiving this scale model of the world’s leading commercial launch vehicle family, I want to congratulate Arianespace on two very important upcoming milestones – the 30th anniversary of Ariane’s first launch in December 1979, and the 30th anniversary of Arianespace’s creation in March 1980,” he said. “These are truly historic events in the development of the space age, and they have had an impact far and wide in every sector and every region of the world’s space community.”
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Thompson added that Arianespace’s origins also had another influence: confirming his own ideas as a young graduate student that commercial companies could have a major contribution in shaping the future of space.
“I had vague aspirations of starting a space company once I completed my studies, but there were no clear models on which to base my hopes – as the sector was dominated by governmental and institutional programs at the time,” he explained. “In late 1979, I read about the plan to form a private company as the program manager and operating agent for the family of Ariane rockets. This inspired me, and 30 years later I’m pleased to acknowledge the role of Arianespace not only in transforming the world’s business of space launch, but also contributing to the beginnings of Orbital as well.”
Thompson co-founded Orbital in 1982, and the company today has a diversified product line that includes spacecraft for telecommunications, remote sensing, scientific research and national security missions; along with light- and medium-class launch vehicles, interceptor boosters to protect against enemy missile attack, and target rockets used to test missile defense systems.
He noted that Orbital’s broad experience makes the company particularly appreciative of Ariane 5’s reliability and track record of success, and called the launcher a “magnificent accomplishment of engineering, manufacturing and operations.”
“We perhaps have more appreciation than many satellite builders of the discipline that goes into creating, producing and – most importantly – establishing repeatability in successful launches, mission after mission,” Thompson told Le Gall and other guests at today’s ceremony. “This is a very difficult, demanding business. Knowing all that is involved, it is a testimony to you and your team to have amassed the Ariane 5’s tremendous track record of consecutive successes during the past seven years. At Orbital, we look forward to helping you extend that record for decades to come.”
He noted that the next STAR satellite to be launched by Ariane 5 is KOREASAT 6, which currently is being readied for final integration in the 135,000-sq.-ft. satellite manufacturing facility at Orbital’s Dulles, Virginia headquarters campus. This spacecraft is based on the STAR-2 4E platform configuration, and is scheduled for an Ariane 5 mission during 2010.
- See the related story on Arianespace's annual holiday gathering in Washington, D.C., which celebrated the 30th anniversary of Ariane’s first flight.
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