Arianespace has been the world's leading launch services company for more than 30 years, accounting for half of all launches of commercial satellites.

At the ILA Berlin Air Show taking place this week, Arianespace continues to confirm its world leadership.

Over three decades of success

Since being founded in 1980 Arianespace has signed over 300 launch contracts and has launched 305 satellites for 77 customers using 208 Ariane rockets – more than half of all the commercial satellites now in service worldwide. Arianespace and Starsem, its European-Russian subsidiary, have also carried out 24 commercial launches of Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. With Soyuz and Vega now joining Ariane 5 at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, Arianespace operates a complete family of launch vehicles, capable of launching all types of satellites for all customers.

Ariane 5, the core of Arianespace’s success

With 50 successful launches in a row, Ariane 5 continues to confirm its technical and operational maturity, launch after launch. It guarantees independent access to space for Europe and is, in fact, one of the most eloquent examples of the ongoing construction of Europe. Based on its successful track record and timely launches, with quality clearly outpacing that of its competitors, Ariane 5 has become the benchmark in space transportation for all customers, whether national or international agencies, governments or private industry. In less than ten years, 50 Ariane 5 launchers have successfully orbited 90 main payloads and ten auxiliary payloads, with a cumulated weight exceeding 400 tons. In addition to communications satellites, Ariane 5 has also orbited a number of weather, defense and scientific satellites, along with the 20-ton ATV, which ferries supplies to the International Space Station.

Four Ariane 5 rockets have already been launched this year, along with one Vega. Three more Ariane 5 launches are scheduled by the end of the year, plus three Soyuz launches – two from the Guiana Space Center and one from Baikonur. The next Ariane 5 launch is scheduled for September 21, and will orbit the Astra 2F and GSAT-10 satellites. The upcoming Soyuz missions are slated for September 17, carrying MetOp-B from Baikonur, and October 10 at the Guiana Space Center, with two Galileo satellites.  

Record order book

Building on its wide range of launchers and the proven reliability and availability of its launch services, Arianespace wins more than half of the commercial launch contracts that come up for bid in the open international market every year. Arianespace currently holds a record backlog of orders from 27 different customers: 30 satellites to be launched by Ariane 5 into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), four dedicated Ariane 5 launches, 15 dedicated Soyuz launches, and three Vega launches, for a total value exceeding 4 billion euros.

Arianespace and Germany

For the last three decades, Germany has been a pivotal partner for Arianespace. The industrial expertise incorporated in Ariane 5 is largely due to the German aerospace agency DLR and the country’s two industrial partners in Arianespace. The DLR coordinates operations by design offices, as well as operation of the rocket engine test stands at Lampoldshausen. Astrium GmbH manufactures and integrates the storable propellant upper stages (EPS) and the cryogenic upper stage (ESCA) in Bremen, and makes various engine components in Ottobrunn. MT Aerospace manufactures the solid booster motor casings and various structures (ESCA tanks and forward skirt on the cryogenic main stage) in Augsburg. Astrium GmbH, MT Aerospace, Cegelec GmbH, Kayser-Threde and RMT also take charge of various launch infrastructure operations at the Guiana Space Center.