Arianespace is preparing for what it is describing as an “intense” 2018 with new missions for its Ariane and Vega C launchers.
During 2017, Arianespace carried out 11 successful launches from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, composed of six launches by Ariane 5, two with Soyuz and three by Vega. Dual payloads were carried on five Ariane 5 flights and one Vega mission.
In a press conference in Paris, Arianespace Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Israël said Arianespace was very proud to have met its customer commitments. “Following the signature of 19 launch contracts with the value of more than €1.1 billion in new orders, Arianespace enters 2018 with the outlook for intense activity involving up to 14 launches, based on the strength of an order book totaling five billion euros and representing 58 launches in total. Arianespace is now fully focused on the future to gear up for the coming successes of Ariane 6 and Vega C – the new spearheads of European independent access to space, and cornerstones to seize the unprecedented growth opportunities of the commercial market in the next decade.”
Arianespace has signed a new contract with Intelsat to launch two communications satellites, along with a service satellite. The first launch involves Galaxy 30, which will share the upper position on an Ariane 5 with Orbital ATK’s Mission Extension Vehicle 2 (MEV-2).
These two missions into geostationary transfer orbit for Intelsat are planned for 2020 and will use the Ariane 5 launcher.
In 2017, Arianespace signed a total of 19 launch contracts – six more than in 2016. These contracts represent 27 new satellites to be placed in orbit.
