Arianespace maintained its commercial space
transportation leadership in 2001, and the company will further improve its
competitive position by increasing the Ariane 5’s payload lift performance in
2002.

Arianespace won 13 launch services contracts out of a total 25 signed
worldwide last year, and performed eight launches that carried 11 of the 16
commercial satellites orbited during 2001.

The contracts signed by Arianespace in 2001 were for the following
payloads:

  • Artemis and Rosetta (ESA)
  • Astra 3A (Boeing Satellite Systems for SES-Astra, Luxemburg)
  • BSAT-2c (Orbital for B-SAT, Japan)
  • e-Bird and Hot Bird 7 (Eutelsat, Europe)
  • Galaxy 12, 5R and 1RR (PanAmSat, USA)
  • Inmarsat 4 (Inmarsat)
  • Syracuse 3A (Alcatel Space for the French Ministry of Defense)
  • Two telecommunication satellites (undisclosed at customers’ request)

As of January 7, 2002, Arianespace’s backlog stood at 51 payloads to be
launched, including nine ATV missions for the International Space Station.

Innovative solutions for the future

The past year saw broad-based progress on the technical and industrial
fronts to enhance the Ariane launch system’s competitiveness.
The new S5
payload process complex was inaugurated at the Ariane launch site in Kourou,
French Guiana, providing Arianespace with the most modern facility of its kind
in the world.
This massive satellite checkout and processing center is sized
to handle spacecraft for up to four launch campaigns simultaneously.

The Guiana Space Center also continued to modernize its Ariane 5 launch
facilities in 2001.
Upgrades to the Center’s integration and assembly
buildings, along with changes to the launch zone and one of the mobile launch
tables, were made to accommodate the new ESC-A upper stage — which will boost
Ariane 5’s payload capacity to 10 metric tons on missions to geostationary
transfer orbit (GTO).

Production of Ariane launchers continued in Europe and French Guiana to
support a sustained mission rate during 2002 and beyond.

At the November ministerial-level meeting in Edinburgh, Europe gave its
unanimous support for the continuation of key Ariane 5 programs — in
particular the ESC-B upper stage and its Vinci cryogenic engine, which are
slated to enter service in 2006.

Resumption of Ariane 5 launches in 2002

The Ariane 5’s return-to-flight action plan has culminated in the
definition of a new ignition sequence for the Aestus upper stage engine, along
with new acceptance testing procedures for Aestus.
The engine for the next
Ariane 5 is now on the test stand in Germany for acceptance tests — a
decisive step before it is shipped to Kourou and preparations begin for a
launch targeted in late February.

10 metric ton payload capacity for Ariane 5

The Ariane launch system will mark another milestone in mid-2002 with the
service entry of the ESC-A cryogenic upper stage.
This new stage will
increase Ariane 5’s GTO payload capacity to 10 metric tons, and will enable
the launcher to meet customer requirements for performance and flexibility.
With the ESC-A, Arianespace will be the only launch services provider in the
world offering the operational capacity needed to launch all sizes of
satellites.

The global standard in satellite launch services

Arianespace intends to carry out at least 12 launches in 2002, including
five flights of the Ariane 5.
The actual schedule will depend on the
availability of customer satellites.
Arianespace’s provisional manifest for
the next three missions is as follows: 

    Mission         Launcher type       Satellite payload   Launch date

    Flight 147      Ariane 42L          Insat 3c            January 23
    Flight 148      Ariane 44L          Intelsat 904        February 14
    Flight 145      Ariane 5            Envisat             late February