Arianespace has ordered the construction of an additional 18 Ariane 5 rockets.
Arianespace has ordered the construction of an additional 18 Ariane 5 rockets.
This construction order, if it reflects actual launch contracts, gives Arianespace some margin while it works to find ways to compete in the launch business, as expressed by the last sentence of the above article: “Astrium managers recently called for a thorough overhaul of the Ariane contractor mix with a view to reducing prices to stay viable in the competitive world commercial launch market.”
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Arianespace has ordered the construction of an additional 18 Ariane 5 rockets.
This construction order, if it reflects actual launch contracts, gives Arianespace some margin while it works to find ways to compete in the launch business, as expressed by the last sentence of the above article: “Astrium managers recently called for a thorough overhaul of the Ariane contractor mix with a view to reducing prices to stay viable in the competitive world commercial launch market.”
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
It sort of sounds like they negotiated for a significantly lower price and made a good deal.
Agreed. The bulk purchase brings the cost per unit to about $150m per. Though you do wonder what new market they see for 18 A-5s? If by heavy lift Ariane-5’s they mean the ES, thats a 21 ton to LEO capacity per launch. Do they have someone in mind? Or are they buying all that capacity on spec?
Maybe Germany? Lifting passengers could be a possibility.
At least with the Dream Chaser module they would have the ability to go to and from the ISS at will.
I hate to sound like a conspiracy monger. Yet. after monitoring Many launches from several Nations to the ISS, there is the amount of tonnage Delivered in food and oxygen as well as other perishables.
Could be. With Shuttle gone, and Soyuz/Progress relyability in decline (and Putin getting weird about such things) they could see a potential for a new market there — but it will be a couple years before you get the new boosters, and ISS could well be a ion tril in the atmospher in 6 years…