ArianeGroup, a joint venture between Airbus and Safran, is a key industrial player in the European space sector, specializing in the development and manufacture of civil and military space launchers. As the prime contractor for the Ariane 6 launcher, it provides propulsion systems, equipment, and services for space vehicles and satellites. The company also develops future space transportation solutions and is involved in defense systems, including the French oceanic deterrent force M51 strategic missile.
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ArianeGroup is building the Ariane 6 heavy-lift launcher to replace Ariane 5.
ArianeGroup added a seventh GEOTracker site in Germany near Munich in 2019.
ArianeGroup’s GEOTracker telescope network can monitor objects in geostationary and medium Earth orbits.
The European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group provided a 100,000,000 EUR loan to ArianeGroup on 2020-01-21 to help finance Ariane 6 development.
At least half of ArianeGroup’s transition batch of 14 Ariane 6 rockets are dedicated to European government customers, including six for the European Commission’s Galileo satellites and one for the French military’s Composante Spatiale Optique-3 imaging satellite.
ArianeGroup is building 15 Ariane 6 rockets: one for the rocket’s maiden flight and 14 in bulk to cover the 2020 to 2023 transition away from the Ariane 5.
The first of the 2017-ordered Ariane 62 launches slipped to 2021 due to a disagreement between ArianeGroup and the European Space Agency that delayed the start of serial production until April 2019.
One hundred million euros of the funding will be provided as a loan to ArianeGroup to help pay for its share of the costs of developing the Ariane 6 rocket.
The loan to ArianeGroup will help finance facilities in France and Germany that will be used to produce and launch the Ariane 6 rocket.
Europropulsion is a 50-50 joint venture between ArianeGroup and Avio that builds Ariane 6’s solid rocket boosters.
ArianeGroup is preparing a Continuous Improvement Program for Ariane 6 to decrease costs and improve performance and mission capability.
ArianeGroup can implement a composite cylindrical structure on Ariane 6 in 2023 without waiting for the complete Icarus black upper stage, which will not be ready until at least 2025.
ArianeGroup plans to increase the APU run time so Ariane 6 can inject more than 5,000 kg directly to GEO and enable sequential spacecraft separations to reduce collision risk.
ArianeGroup expects Ariane 6 to succeed the Ariane 5 heavy-lift rocket while costing around half as much to produce.
Regulus is a joint venture that produces propellant for Ariane 6 and is owned 60% by Avio and 40% by ArianeGroup.
ArianeGroup intends to apply Prometheus technologies such as electrical valves and 3D-printed parts to Ariane 6’s expendable Vulcain 2.1 first-stage engines and Vinci second-stage engines to reduce costs.
ArianeGroup seeks ESA funding to simplify the design and improve manufacturing processes for Ariane 6’s solid rocket boosters.
ArianeGroup and its industry partners fund 11% of the Ariane 6 program.
ArianeGroup plans a reinforced payload adapter for Ariane 6 to support more rideshares for small satellites and heavier combinations of GEO satellites by making more of the rocket fairing’s volume fillable with satellites.
In May, ESA tasked ArianeGroup and MT Aerospace with developing a prototype carbon-composite upper stage that leads to the Innovative Carbon Ariane Upper Stage (Icarus) made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic.