Echostar signs a multi-satellite deal using the Ariane 5 rocket.The competition heats up: Echostar signs a multi-satellite deal using the Ariane 5 rocket.
Several points:
- This is good news for Arianespace, as it gives them a long-term and very reliable customer at just the moment many people, including myself, thought they’d have difficulty selling Ariane 5 to anyone in the coming years. With this deal in hand, they might be able to keep the rocket afloat long enough to find a way to lower its costs and make it more competitive.
- This is bad news for ILS and the Russian Proton rocket. They have lost a loyal customer. And the reason is probably related to their two recent launch failures as well as other quality control failures. Echostar likely looked at these problems and compared them with Ariane 5’s near perfect launch record, with 52 successful launches in a row.
- Overally, however, this is great news for the increasingly competitive launch market. Not only does it keep Arianespace alive, it puts increased pressure on the Russians to find a way to lower their costs, improve their reliability, and thus compete with both the Ariane 5 and SpaceX’s Falcon 9. See for example this story about how the Russians plan on reorganizing their industry.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The competition heats up: Echostar signs a multi-satellite deal using the Ariane 5 rocket.
Several points:
- This is good news for Arianespace, as it gives them a long-term and very reliable customer at just the moment many people, including myself, thought they’d have difficulty selling Ariane 5 to anyone in the coming years. With this deal in hand, they might be able to keep the rocket afloat long enough to find a way to lower its costs and make it more competitive.
- This is bad news for ILS and the Russian Proton rocket. They have lost a loyal customer. And the reason is probably related to their two recent launch failures as well as other quality control failures. Echostar likely looked at these problems and compared them with Ariane 5’s near perfect launch record, with 52 successful launches in a row.
- Overally, however, this is great news for the increasingly competitive launch market. Not only does it keep Arianespace alive, it puts increased pressure on the Russians to find a way to lower their costs, improve their reliability, and thus compete with both the Ariane 5 and SpaceX’s Falcon 9. See for example this story about how the Russians plan on reorganizing their industry.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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