Second solo Ariane 5 launch in 2016
The competition heats up: In successfully placing a commercial communications satellite in orbit last night, Arianespace also did its second consecutive single satellite launch.
The Ariane 5 rocket is designed to carry two satellites, and normally does so in order to maximize its profit per launch. That they have done two straight commercial launches without a second satellite suggests to me that the competition from SpaceX is taking customers from them. The scheduling of the secondary payload usually suffers because priority is given to the primary satellite. Those customers thus might be switching to SpaceX in the hope they can gain better control over their own launch schedule, while also paying far less for their launch.
Then again, considering how unreliable SpaceX’s own launch schedule has been, it is unlikely these customers will have yet gained any scheduling advantages.
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The competition heats up: In successfully placing a commercial communications satellite in orbit last night, Arianespace also did its second consecutive single satellite launch.
The Ariane 5 rocket is designed to carry two satellites, and normally does so in order to maximize its profit per launch. That they have done two straight commercial launches without a second satellite suggests to me that the competition from SpaceX is taking customers from them. The scheduling of the secondary payload usually suffers because priority is given to the primary satellite. Those customers thus might be switching to SpaceX in the hope they can gain better control over their own launch schedule, while also paying far less for their launch.
Then again, considering how unreliable SpaceX’s own launch schedule has been, it is unlikely these customers will have yet gained any scheduling advantages.
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
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
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.
Although I agree that SpaceX is heavy competition, especially for price, Arianespace may merely have been unable to find a satellite under 3,000 kg to launch with the Eutelsat satellite. The weight of the satellite launched is pretty heavy, as communication satellites go. Eutelsat may have realized that they would be paying for a whole Ariane 5 when they ordered their satellite.
I’m sure, though, that Eutelsat would have preferred that a small satellite be available to help defray the costs. SES-9, which SpaceX just launched, was 5,330 kg, over two tonnes more than could have gone with Eutelsat 65 West A.
The article tells us that Areanespace took advantage of the lighter load in order to instrument the upper stage for research in designing their new rocket. This was a fun detail to read.
There are three major considerations when a satellite operator chooses a rocket. First is price. Launch costs are high on everyone’s priorities. Second is schedule. A communication satellite can bring in a lot of money each month, so being sure that the satellite goes up on time can make up for a lot of rocket cost. Third is reliability. The US military tends not to buy insurance, and they don’t usually make spares or budget for replacements for lost satellites; they like to be sure their satellites make it to the proper orbit, and they are willing to pay extra for that assurance.
Actually, there is a zeroth consideration: the weight capability of the rocket. If the rocket can’t get it to the proper orbit, then there is no use putting it on the list for consideration.