Centre européen pour la construction de lanceurs d'engins spatiaux
Arianespace is a multinational company and a leading commercial launch service provider, marketing and operating launch vehicles like Ariane 5, Soyuz, and Vega, and the upcoming Ariane 6. As a subsidiary of ArianeGroup, it plays a crucial role in providing independent access to space, particularly for European organizations and governments. Arianespace launches missions from the Guiana Space Centre and works with partners like the European Space Agency (ESA) and Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES). Key activities include preparing missions, managing customer relations, and offering a wide range of space-based applications, including telecommunications, science, navigation, and Earth observation.
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Arianespace is scheduled to launch Galaxy-30 in 2020 on an Ariane 5 with Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Vehicle 2.
Eutelsat signed a multi-launch agreement that Arianespace counts collectively as five Ariane 6 missions, with some flexibility to use Ariane 5.
OneWeb’s first six satellites were scheduled to launch 2019-02-19 from French Guiana on an Arianespace-operated Soyuz.
Arianespace is launching the roughly 150-kilogram OneWeb satellites directly to a 1,200-kilometer operating orbit.
The six OneWeb satellites shipped to French Guiana are scheduled to launch on 2019-02-19 on an Arianespace-operated Soyuz rocket.
Arianespace plans to purchase 14 Ariane 6 rockets and expects to allocate seven of those to institutional missions and seven to commercial missions.
ESA is working to switch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission from Ariane 5 to Ariane 6 to add a fourth institutional mission to Arianespace’s Ariane 6 backlog.
Arianespace anticipates four of Eutelsat’s five assigned satellites will launch on Ariane 6 and one will launch on Ariane 5.
Arianespace hopes to secure seven institutional orders for Ariane 6 before contracting ArianeGroup to produce 14 Ariane 6 rockets.
Arianespace is relying on government demand to ensure a stable production rate for Ariane 6 to achieve a cost target 40 to 50 percent below the cost of Ariane 5.
Of the 14 Ariane 6 rockets Arianespace plans to buy, Paris-based Eutelsat assigned five satellites to Ariane 6 missions.
Arianespace requires European governmental organizations to purchase at least four additional Ariane 6 missions for the 2020–2023 time frame before signing a manufacturing contract for the first 14 Ariane 6 rockets.
Arianespace had planned to sign a manufacturing contract with ArianeGroup in the second half of 2018 to begin production beyond the first Ariane 6 rocket.
Arianespace plans to return to launching from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome for OneWeb missions if OneWeb is ready.
Those three Arianespace Soyuz launches in 2019 will take place from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.
Arianespace won a OneWeb launch contract in 2015 for 21 Soyuz missions and initially planned for most of those missions to take place in Baikonur.
Arianespace’s last Vega launch of 2019 will use the first of 10 Vega rockets ordered in 2017.
Arianespace recorded €1.4 billion in revenue for 2018, roughly the same as in 2017 and 2016.
Arianespace also launches its heavy-lift Ariane 5 and light-lift Vega rockets from the Guiana Space Center.
Arianespace launched 11 times in 2018: six Ariane 5 missions, three Soyuz missions, and two Vega missions.