eBay

To be continued on ebay...

in my Shop “AmidesLivres”

a very beautiful set of photographs in argentique print

and various printed documents

coming from personal archives a high-level French aeronautical engineer,

who was one of those responsible for the “Cluster” scientific mission in 1995 (for the satellite part)

Ariane space

Arianespace

Creation Mars 26, 1980

Key dates:

1984 First Ariane flight under Arianespace responsibility

1999 First operational mission of Ariane 5

2011 First Soyuz flight from Guyana

2014 Arianespace becomes a subsidiary of Airbus Safran Launchers

Founders: Frédéric d'Allest

Key characters: Charles Bigot, Jean-Marie Luton, Jean-Yves Le Gall

Products Satellite launches on Ariane, Soyuz and Vega

Founded in 1980, Arianespace SAS is a French company responsible for the marketing and operation of space launch systems developed by ArianeGroup, namely the Ariane and Vega launcher families.

The company defines itself in its own terms as a “launch systems operator”. Since 2007, following an agreement between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Arianespace has also launched Soyuz launchers. Indeed, the Ariane launch base, located in Kourou in French Guiana (Guyanese Space Center), allows Arianespace to have a significant advantage over its competitors thanks to its proximity to the equator in an area devoid of any risk of tropical cyclones.

Since the mid-1980s, the firm has established itself as number one in commercial space transportation in the world with a market share of satellite launches to geostationary orbit approaching or exceeding 50% for more than 20 years. From its creation until August 2, 2012, Arianespace signed more than 350 launch contracts and launched 305 satellites (not counting auxiliary loads such as microsatellites and nanosatellites).

September 25, 2018 marks the 100th flight of Ariane 5 and the 300th launch carried out by Arianespace,

all families of launchers combined.

Mars 26, 2020 marks the 40th anniversary of the creation of the company.

History

1973 - 1979: the first private space transport operator

After the failure of the Europa program, ten European countries decided in 1973, under the leadership of France, to launch the Ariane program to provide Europe with its own capacity to put geostationary satellites into orbit.

The program is initially managed by the European Space Research Council and then by the European Space Agency (ESA) since its effective creation in 1975. The production is delegated to the National Center for Space Studies (CNES), the French space agency. The European market is then estimated at around two launches per year in the 1980s. Such a pace would not make it possible to maintain a sufficient rate to ensure industrial production and reliable operation of the system, which makes it necessary to add commercial launches. However, the ESA's operating rules, with the need to make decisions unanimously, do not lend themselves to the industrial production and marketing of the launcher.

On December 15, 1977, Frédéric d'Allest, then director of launchers at CNES, suggested the creation

of a marketing company, initially called Transpace, whose capital would be divided between CNES and the program's manufacturers. The idea was approved by CNES management on May 2, 1978,

then by the French government during the summer.

In the meantime, Frédéric d'Allest began approaching satellite operators to garner commercial launches in order to expand the Ariane launch manifest. A first success was recorded on December 8, 1978 when Intelsat, then the world's leading satellite operator, decided to choose Ariane to launch some of its Intelsat generation satellites. This resulted in a first order signed on February 15, 1979 for a firm launch with two options.

On June 12, 1979, during the Paris Air Show, CNES signed a preliminary memorandum of understanding with the manufacturers

to the creation of Transpace. This name was abandoned in September because it was already that of an American company and Arianespace was officially created on Mars 26, 1980 with capital of 120 million FRF.

Frédéric d'Allest is the first CEO.

1979 - 1986: the first launches

The Ariane 1 launcher flew for the first time on December 24, 1979 as part of a series of four qualification missions conducted by CNES. Then followed four promotional flights under the aegis of the ESA.

The last two carry Intelsat 5 satellites.

The first flight under the Arianespace stamp took place on May 23, 1984 and put into orbit

the American private commercial satellite Spacenet.

In order to be able to offer services at competitive launch prices, under the leadership of France,

of Germany and Italy, the ESA decided in July 1980 to develop more powerful versions of Ariane, with the capacity to carry two satellites in a single flight to compete with the American shuttle. This is the objective of the Ariane 3 version, equipped with a more powerful upper stage and solid propellant accelerators at the base.

An intermediate Ariane 2 version, without accelerators, is also available to put the heaviest satellites into orbit with a simple launch.

Ariane 3 entered service on the 2nd Arianespace mission, on August 4, 1984, to launch the European telecommunications satellites ECS-2 and the French Télécom 1A. In 5 years, this version will make it possible to place 19 satellites into orbit in 10 flights. At the same time, the Ariane 2 version launches 5

and the latest Ariane 1s are launching 3.

1986 - 1995: Market leader

The Challenger accident on January 28, 1986 led to the immobilization of American shuttles for 32 months and the abandonment of their commercial use, which made them Ariane's main competitor. Restarting the production lines of classic American launchers replaced by the shuttle (Atlas, Delta, Titan) took time and Arianespace found itself at the end of the 1980s in a situation of near-monopoly for commercial launches. This allows it to considerably expand its order book. From 12 satellites to be launched in 1981, it rose to 30 in Mars 1986 and to 44 in May 1988. This period also corresponds to the introduction of an optimized version of the launcher with an elongated first stage, Ariane 4, the development of which was decided in 1982 in order to maintain the double launch capacity despite the regular increase in the mass of telecommunications satellites.

In addition, Ariane 4 is available in six versions with a mix of solid propellant and liquid propellant accelerators, in order to adapt its performance to the specific needs of each mission.

The first Ariane 4 was launched on June 15, 1988 and replaced all other versions from mid-1989.

To meet demand, the launch rate, which was 3 or 4 flights per year, doubled from 1988 to 7 or 8 flights before reaching 11 to 12 from 1995. On February 15, 1989, Arianespace placed an order for a batch of 50 Ariane 4 launchers to the industry for FRF 18 billion. This exceptional order for the time will later be increased in stages to a total of 95 launchers.

In 1990, Frédéric d'Allest gave up his place at the head of Arianespace to Charles Bigot.

1995 - 2013: Restructuring and diversification

From the mid-1990s, the continued increase in the mass of geostationary satellites no longer made it possible to systematically carry out double launches on Ariane 4, despite optimization.

regular performance, and requires the introduction of a new, more powerful launcher, Ariane 5,

the development of which has been initiated by the ESA since 1988. L'maiden flight failure, on June 4, 1996, led to a postponement of its qualification to October 1998 and its first commercial flight did not take place until December 10, 1999.

The operation of Ariane 4 is therefore extended until 2003.

At the same time, Arianespace must face increasingly aggressive competition with the arrival on the market of American-Russian alliances such as International Launch Services (ILS) in 1995 and Sea Launch in 1999, which offer capabilities of launch up to 6 tons into geostationary transfer orbit.

The emergence of a low orbit market, with constellations such as Iridium and Globalstar, for the launch of which Ariane 4 is not suitable, led Arianespace to invest alongside Aérospatiale in the founding of Starsem in 1996, for the marketing outside the former USSR of the Russian Soyuz launcher from 1999

Jean-Marie Luton succeeded Charles Bigot in 1997.

Faced with the arrival on the market of telecommunications satellites weighing more than 5 tonnes, an improved version of Ariane 5, aiming for a capacity of 10 tonnes, was started in 1999. After the failure of the first flight of this Ariane 5ECA, on December 11, 2002, an overhaul of Ariane production was decided by the ESA. Arianespace then cedes the project management of the production of Ariane 5 launchers to Astrium Space Transportation, which is part of the EADS group, and limits its activities to marketing and launch operations.

Ariane 5ECA successfully returned to flight on February 12, 2005 and became Arianespace's reference launcher. The old Ariane 5G version made its last flight on December 18, 2009.

Jean-Yves Le Gall was appointed CEO of Arianespace in 2001, then executive CEO in 2002,

Jean-Marie Luton then becoming chairman of the board of directors. Jean-Yves Le Gall became CEO in 2007.

Since mid-2011, Arianespace has also operated the Russian Soyuz launcher from the Guiana Space Center, with a first flight on October 21, 2011. ESA's small Vega launcher will join the Arianespace fleet following the success of its qualification flight on February 13, 2012.

Since 2013: Faced with reusable launchers

In 2014, Arianespace signed a contract with the ESA which provides for putting into orbit, by 2015,

of 12 new satellites for the Galileo19 project.

In December 2013, the American Falcon 9 rocket put a communications satellite into orbit. In response, the Airbus and Safran groups are proposing a more competitive Ariane 6 rocket project, and are pooling their activities in a joint venture: Airbus Safran Launchers which is buying CNES's shares in Arianespace.

The first launch of Ariane 6 is planned for 2020.

In September 2017, Arianespace was chosen by the Luxembourg satellite operator SES for the launch of the all-electric satellite SES-17 and for the fifth launch of satellites intended

to the medium orbit constellation O3b.

On April 19, 2018, the Japanese operator B-Sat signed a contract to put a telecommunications satellite into orbit from Kourou (Guyana), which consolidates the firm's position in the Japanese archipelago.

At the start of 2020, Arianespace announces that it wants to accelerate its satellite launches by planning to send

more than 300 in 2020 alone.

Influence on the space sector

Independence of European space policy

The creation of Arianespace made it possible to guarantee a sufficient launch rate to ensure the sustainability of an independent European space transport system and no longer depend on American launchers to carry out European missions. Before Ariane, the use of American Delta launchers to put satellites into orbit

Franco-German Symphonie in 1975 and 1976 had been accompanied by conditions which in practice made the operational use of satellites impossible so as not to threaten the monopoly of the Intelsat organization, then mainly financed by the American Comsat. From 1984 to August 2012, Arianespace launched 96 satellites

(including 25 in auxiliary charges) for ESA and European governments, both for scientific and Earth observation missions, as well as for military telecommunications, technological demonstrations or servicing the International Space Station.

Please note, with some exceptions, I only ownonly one copy

of each of the photos and documents sold here!!

Very very rare document

31 Photographs forming a booklet

Plastic spiral on the back holding the photos

Between December 24, 1979 and August 15, 2020, there are no less than 253

Ariane rocket launches, from the Kourou base in French Guiana

In 40 years of activity, only 9 flights experienced failures

(all types of launchers combined)

and 3 a partial failure

Flight L5 is one of those rare failed launches

(the 2nd failure after flight L-02 of May 23, 1980)

September 10, 1982

Failure of the Ariane rocket

On the 10th, the first commercial firing of the European Ariane rocket ended in failure, ten minutes after firing, due to a failure of the turbopump responsible for powering the third stage engine.

The two satellites (Sirio-2 and Marecs-B) which were to be placed in orbit are destroyed.

This failure is a serious blow to the credibility of the European launcher, in commercial competition with the American space shuttle Columbia.

ARIANE 1

September 10, 1982

Vol 5

On-board satellites:

Marecs B

Sylda

Sirio 2

[230]

Very Beautiful Color Prints

On beautiful thick Kodak photo paper