Arianespace Board Approves Aggressive Launch Schedule
The Board of Directors of Arianespace met on Monday in Evry,
near Paris, and approved the launch manifest for 2010 and 2011. The
board also congratulated the company on its record order book, and
started operations to strengthen its financial structure.
With 38 successful launches in a row, and more than seven years
without a failure, Ariane 5 continues to confirm its operational
maturity. Three Ariane 5 launches have already been successfully
completed in 2010, and the next launch has been confirmed for
Wednesday, October 28, carrying the Eutelsat W3B and B-SAT Corp.
BSAT-3b satellites. Preparations of the satellites will start this
week at the Guiana Space Center. The next two launches are
scheduled by the end of the year, and will orbit four more
geostationary satellites.
The first Ariane 5 launch in 2011 - which will be the 200th
Ariane mission - will boost into orbit the Johannes Kepler ATV
(Automated Transfer Vehicle) cargo vessel on a date compatible with
the docking slots for the International Space Station (ISS), to be
decided by ISS partners. This date will be guaranteed no matter
what the schedule is for other Ariane 5 launches, thus confirming
the versatility of the European launch system.
Arianespace and subsidiary Starsem will use the Soyuz launcher
to orbit six Globalstar-2 satellites on October 19, 2010 from the
Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The first launch of a Soyuz
rocket from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana is set for the
spring of 2011, and the first launch of the new Vega light launcher
is expected next year as well.
Ariane 5 File Photo
Since its founding, Arianespace has signed more than 300 launch
Service & Solutions contracts with 77 customers, and has
launched 283 satellites, which it says represents more than half of
all the commercial satellites now in service. Since the beginning
of the year, Arianespace has signed nine more launch contracts for
geostationary satellites, as well as six new contracts for
dedicated Soyuz launches.
Arianespace's order book now stands at nearly $5.8 billion, an
all-time record, including 32 geostationary satellites, six Ariane
5 launches for the ATV, and 18 Soyuz launches. In line with
decisions made at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in
April, the Board of Directors has started operations to increase
the company's share capital, in order to offset the losses recorded
in 2009 and strengthen its financial structure.