The historic spearhead of European aerospace will take off for its last mission on June 16. The end of an era, and the beginning of a new chapter that will begin with a real leap into the unknown.
That’s it. Ariane 5, the undisputed and indisputable spearhead of European aerospace which made the heyday of ESA, is about to bow out after 27 years of good and loyal service. The opportunity to look back on the illustrious career of this machine, exceptional in many respects… and on the immense void it will leave behind.
His story had not yet started in the best of ways. The first rocket exploded just after takeoff during its maiden flight on June 4, 1996. The fault was attributed to a regrettable computer error. Indeed, this fifth version was still equipped with a gyroscope management program designed for… Ariane 4, which generated a fatal transcription error.
And the worries persisted for a while. Ariane indeed displays four failures (two critical and two partial) of the rocket engines on the first fourteen shots. But after these initial galleys, the rocket did not take long to become the darling of the Old Continent.
Because in the 2000s, the cards were widely redistributed in the world of aerospace. Ariane was able to take advantage of the stagnation of the American space program. This one was stuck in a low period because of the setbacks of its space shuttle. In addition to its astronomical cost, the story of the latter ended in the worst way. As a reminder, the terrible Challenger accident claimed the lives of seven astronauts.
Two decades of outstanding reliability
And meanwhile, Ariane 5 was entering a golden age. From 2003, she began to show what would become her main argument: rock-solid reliability. After his failed debut, the heavy thrower chained successful launches with metronomic regularity. It’s quite simple: since the fourth failure of December 11, 2002, it has not missed only one and only mission, January 25, 2018! Today, Ariane 5 has a total of 111 successes in 116 launches. This represents a very flattering success rate of 95.7%.
During this incredibly prosperous period, the European rocket was assigned particularly prestigious missions. We can cite the launch of the Rosetta probe in 2004. It was the very first probe to be placed in orbit around a comet to deposit a small lander there. A huge scientific success for ESA and for the rocket.
In 2009, she killed two birds with one stone with a memorable double launch. In a single trip, she deployed two of ESA’s flagship space telescopes: Planck, and especially Herschel. This infrared telescope, sometimes considered one of the ancestors of the illustrious James Webb, was then the largest space telescope ever deployed in orbit.
In 2018, Ariane 5 also deployed the two vehicles of BepiColombo, a formidable exploration program for Mercury. But the real apotheosis came three years later, on December 25, 2021.
An end of career in apotheosis
It is on this date that the darling ESA has successfully deployed the James Webb – the most powerful telescope in history that has revolutionized astrophysics since its inception. And for this historic deadline, the ESA troops have outdone themselves. The launch and the first maneuvers were so precise that the machine arrived on its perch in perfect health. And most importantly, he achieved this with a considerable surplus of fuel. Result : the theoretical life expectancy of this observatory at more than 10 billion dollars has actually doubled ! A full box that earned a rain of well-deserved praise to all the actors of the program.
Ariane 5’s last significant mission took place very recently, on April 14, 2023. It was on this date that it launched JUICE, a probe that set off to meet the fascinating frozen moons of Jupiter. . The device will arrive at its destination in 2031, well after the rocket’s retirement.
The last launch of an aging craft
Because this leading mission was also the penultimate for the Princess of Kourou. She only has one deadline left. It will bow out on June 16 with the deployment of Syracuse 4B, a military satellite launched on behalf of the French Armaments Directorate. Because casually, this formidable machine is no longer very young. “It is no longer suited to the great missions of Europe. And then, with increased competition, it became too expensive for the market“, recently explained Stéphane Israël, Executive Chairman of Arianespace, at the microphone of France Inter.
This exit through the back door takes nothing away from Ariane 5’s impeccable service record. But it also marks the start of a new chapter that promises to be tricky for European aerospace, now deprived of its historic spearhead. .
A changing industry
Because during these almost three decades of good and loyal service, the face of global aerospace has changed completely. We can notably cite the entry on the scene of a particularly disruptive company: SpaceX. In 2010, it became the first private firm to send a rocket into orbit and recover it. The beginning of a great paradigm shift.
Because in 2015, the company of Elon Musk settled at the top of the world aerospace with a resounding achievement. For the first time, she managed to land part of her Falcon 9 launch vehicle back from orbit. An unprecedented earthquake in this industry… and not necessarily good news for the Ariane teams.
Because at that time, the European contingent did not believe for a second in Elon Musk’s crazy project. When Ariane 6 arrived on the agenda in the early 2010s, the agency preferred to rest on its laurels. She decided to build a single-use launcher based on the traditional model.
And with hindsight, this decision turned out to be a major strategic mistake, the consequences of which are becoming more and more noticeable. Because in the meantime, the American titan has chained major technical innovations. Today, Falcon 9 launcher recoveries are routine at Spacex. Its model has therefore established itself as an essential standard. There is no longer any possible ambiguity: the future now belongs to reusable launchers.
A leap into the unknown
A blow for Arianespace, which invested considerable resources in the development of this almost outdated launcher even before it was lifted off. “We are 15 years behind the United States”, estimated Stella Guillen, COO ofe the German startup Isar Aerospace last November.
Space: Europe is “fifteen years behind” the United States
Since then, Europe has done its best to straighten the situation. Arianespace has started working on a new launcher model which, this time, will be partially reusable (see our article). Excellent news for the future of European aerospace. But these efforts have also increased the already considerable pressure on the Ariane 6 schedule. Problematic, knowing that it is still supposed to act for years.
Result: while it was initially planned for 2020, the heiress of the illustrious Ariane 5 is still waiting. His first flight was postponed several times. Officially, it is now scheduled for the end of 2023 at the earliest. But it is likely that we will have to wait until next year. And meanwhile, the whole Old Continent is chomping at the bit.
Because while waiting for Ariane 6 to finally be on the attack, European aerospace will never find itself helpless. Between the well-deserved retirement of Ariane 5, the end of operation of the Russian Soyuz because of the war in Ukraine and the recent failure of the Vega-C light launcher, we are entering a period of a few months which promises to be particularly delicate. Europe will quite simply be deprived of its spatial autonomy – a first for a quarter of a century.
The failure of Vega-C, a blow to Europe’s ambitions
And this has already had very concrete consequences. For example, the ESA was forced to give a very prestigious mission to the competition. It is indeed SpaceX which will take care of the launch of the Euclid dark matter hunter satellite. Ironically, Europe could also be forced to do the same for strategic launches. We can notably cite the next Galileo satellites, the European equivalent of the GPS system…
Knowing the strategic, technological and economic importance of the space sector today, the European contingent will therefore work twice as hard – and everyone is well aware of this. “The pressure is very strong, it is essential to fly soon and our teams are doing their best to arrive as quickly as possible on a flight date.“, declared Martin Sion, the executive president of ArianeGroup quoted by AFP.
The end of an era
It will therefore be necessary to follow the development of Ariane 6 and the new reusable launcher with particular attention. The stakes are considerable: it is a question of putting the Old Continent back on the map alongside the Americans and the Chinese, neither more nor less. It will be hoped that the upper echelons of European aerospace will know how to negotiate this delicate turn brilliantly.
But in the meantime, it is also appropriate to pay tribute to the formidable journey of this machine like no other – and especially to the work of the humans who participated in it. Because the star of Kourou obviously did not build and fly away alone. Europe could never have experienced such an adventure without an army of talented and dedicated engineers, researchers, technicians and other professionals.
The last firing will certainly be rich in emotions for all those who have contributed to the countless successes of Ariane 5; they can at least console themselves by remembering that they were the protagonists of one of the finest chapters in European industrial history. All that remains now is to turn the page to write the next one, while Ariane 5 recovers its well-deserved place in the Aerospace Hall of Fame.
