Ariane 6: Amazon offers Arianespace and Europe an enchanted parenthesis – La Tribune.fr

After a catastrophic start to the year with the suspension of launches on Soyuz, Arianespace has something to smile about with the announcement of an extraordinary contract with the American e-commerce giant Amazon, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos . A contract which arrives at peak but which should not either mask the shortcomings of the autonomy of the industry of the launchers in Europe. The European company and Amazon signed “an unprecedented launch service contract” on Tuesday at the International Space Symposium (ISS) in Colorado Springs, United States. That is 18 launches. A contract whose amount has not yet been communicated. The Kuiper Constellation aims to bring broadband, high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity to communities around the world. “This contract, the largest we have ever signed, is a great moment in the history of Arianespace,” said Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israel, quoted in the press release published on Tuesday. If Arianespace was invited to this space feast, two other American companies were selected by Amazon: the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance (ULA), which will carry out 38 launches and the Amazon subsidiary, Blue Origin, which will carry out 37 of them. That is to say up to 83 launches over a period of five years. This will allow Amazon to deploy the majority of its constellation of 3,236 satellites, Amazon said in a statement, claiming “the largest commercial acquisition of launchers in history”. Ariane 6 selected Arianespace will carry out 18 launches with Ariane 6 for the benefit of the Kuiper project over a period of three years, from the European spaceport of Kourou, in French Guiana. Of the 18 planned launches, 16 will be provided by an improved version of Ariane 64. This version will be able to carry between 37 and 39 satellites of the Kuiper constellation. This contract will practically triple the order book for Ariane 6, going from 11 to 29 launches. “This contract marks a decisive success for the Ariane 6 program and its entire value chain in Europe,” said Stéphane Israël. “This is very good news for Europe in the space sector, which shows that the right choices have been made. We have a launcher which will make its first flight in a short time and which is competitive on the market, for me it is the beginning of Europe’s great return to space on launchers”, reacted for his part the president of CNES, Philippe Baptiste, to AFP. To see… Asked by AFP about the fact that Ariane 6 has not yet flown, Stéphane Israel observed: “It is unheard of for a launcher to be reserved at this point even before its maiden flight. , this is unheard of in the history of Ariane. It shows to what extent we were able to convince a leading customer to trust us, it also shows that the request for access to space has not never been so strong”. According to Arianespace, “the versatility, capabilities and expected reliability of Ariane 6 are all key factors that led to the signing of the Kuiper contract. Ariane 6 is a launcher designed from the outset to evolve and regularly integrate new technologies and this throughout its lifetime.” Of the 18 A64 launchers planned under this contract, 16 will be equipped with the increased power version of the P120C solid propellant boosters (version called P120C+). The incremental evolutions of Ariane 6 aim to constantly optimize the performance of the launch solutions offered by Arianespace to respond as closely as possible to the needs of its institutional and commercial customers. Michel Cabirol 05 Apr 2022, 16:47