Ariane Series Data

Josh Hopkins

Vehicle        |     Payload  kg  (lbs)   |  Reliability  | Price
(nation)       |  LEO      Polar    GEO   |               |
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ariane                                 97.5% for last 25 launches
(ESA)
  AR40          4900       3900     1900                     $65m
              (10,800)    (8580)   (4190)
  AR42P         6100       4800     2600                     $67m
              (13,400)   (10,600)  (5730)
  AR44P         7725       5500     3000                     $70m
              (17,000)   (12,100)  (6610)
  AR42L         7400       5900     3200                     $90m
              (16,300)   (13,000)  (7050)
  AR44LP        8300       6600     3700                     $95m
              (18,300)   (14,500)  (8160)
  AR44L         9600       7700     4200                     $115m
              (21,100)   (16,900)  (9260)

* AR5          18,000      ???      6920    0/0              $105m
              (39,600)            (15,224)
               [300nm]
                                                      * Planned

The Ariane 4 series holds the largest market share in the international commercial launch market. Development is funded by the European Space Agency and lead by CNES, the French space agency. Operations are conducted by Arianespace. The vehicles launch from French Guiana in South America. The Ariane 5, an all-new design, is scheduled for first launch in April of 1996. The Ariane 4 will be phased out by late 1998. Ariane 5 was designed to launch multiple large communications satellites for a lower cost than previous versions. However, satellites have continued to grow since the program was started almost ten years ago. There is speculation that Ariane 5 will eventually be too small to launch two satellites, but too large to launch just one. Therefore, ESA has approved a roughly $1-2 billion "Ariane 5 Evolution" project to increase GTO payload to about 7.4 tons in small increments after the year 2000.

Because of its avaliability, proven track record, and exceptionally low cost, the Ariane series rockets are prime candidates for the Artemis Project launches.