Often, Ariane’s customers go to the very popular geostationary orbit. Thus it is not so hard for them to find two satellites going there on similar timetables. There are several other orbital planes that may be more problematic.

Robert Zimmerman wrote: “This fact makes it clear that ArianeGroup is not really trying to compete in the new launch market. Its new rocket is going to be more expensive than today’s launch prices, which I expect to drop even more by the time Ariane 6 finally begins operation.”

They may not be able to compete on price, but with SpaceX being less expensive (and if Blue Origin is also less expensive) then Ariane may be dependent upon providing overflow protection for when the wait time for a SpaceX (and Blue Origin) launch is too long for some customers.

From the article: “This follows the decision taken at the ESA Council meeting at Ministerial level in December 2014, to maintain Europe’s leadership in the fast-changing commercial launch service market while responding to the needs of European institutional missions.”

SpaceX has greatly disrupted the launch industry, and as far as I know, only Blue Origin could possibly be on track to compete on price. SpaceX will soon have more launch pads than Arianespace, so SpaceX has an excellent opportunity to overtake Europe in launches.

Des. Thank you. This fact makes it clear that ArianeGroup is not really trying to compete in the new launch market. Its new rocket is going to be more expensive than today’s launch prices, which I expect to drop even more by the time Ariane 6 finally begins operation.

The relevant quotation is:
“The A62, with two P120 solid boosters, will be used mainly in single-launch configurations, while the A64 – with four P120 solids – will enable double launch of medium-class satellites over 4.5–5 t, mainly for commercial market needs.”

Dual launches are difficult to setup as they need the two satellites to be going to very similar orbits. It also usually needs co-coordinating timetables of two separate customers.

Des: Your link doesn’t work. Can you send it again?