Astrium and Air Liquide, a French industrial gases supplier, have set up a new joint venture to build the cryogenic upper stage tank of Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (ME).
According to Astrium, the ME programme is aimed at increasing the payload capacity of…
Astrium and Air Liquide, a French industrial gases supplier, have set up a new joint venture to build the cryogenic upper stage tank of Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (ME).
According to Astrium, the ME programme is aimed at increasing the payload capacity of the launcher from 10 to 12 tonnes and will have a new re-ignitable upper stage to better place multiple satellites into orbit or send probes to other planets. The new version of Ariane 5 could be operational by the end of 2016.
The aerospace subsidiary of EADS and Air Liquide have been working together for more than 40 years and already have a Cryospace JV in Les Mureaux, France. The construction of the new facility will start in 2011 in Bremen, Germany, which increased its participation in the programme to 35% of the total budget. The new JV is expected to create about 40 new jobs.
Astrium declined to comment on the financial details of the JV while Air Liquide could not be reached for comment.
In a previous October statement, Alain Charmeau, CEO of Astrium Space Transportation had underlined “the necessity of launching the development phase on the Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (ME) to reinforce the overall effectiveness and the robustness of the industrial chain.”
The company had just conducted an internal audit showing that “maintaining competitiveness remained tenuous and needed to better be better guaranteed.” This audit followed a series of technical issues earlier in the year, which resulted in some launches being delayed.
Yesterday, Ariane 5 completed its fourth launch of the year, placing into orbit two satellites, Eutelsat’s W3B and Japanese satellite operator Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation’s (B-SAT) BSAT-3b. However following the launch, Eutelsat announced the loss of W3B due to an anomaly to the spacecraft’s propulsion subsystem. The exact cause of the problem is currently being investigated by Eutelsat, Arianespace and the satellite’s manufacturer Thales Alenia Space.
In a separate announcement, Astrium also said this week it will provide and install various test equipment at Kazakhstan’s Satellite Assembly, Integration and Test (AIT) centre in Astana. The company has been contracted by Kazakhstan Gharysh Saoary (KGS), the state-owned company in charge of the country’s space programme.
Astrium is also expected to help KGS build the AIT centre to ensure coordination with the test equipment.
The partnership between the two companies date back to October 2009 when they entered a joint venture aimed at managing the AIT centre, which will be part of a ‘Space City’ Kazcosmos in Astana.
“We are now also working closely with KGS to best develop the distribution of Earth observation data and provide satellite services to the Government and private sector in Kazakhstan,” François Auque, CEO of Astrium, said in the statement.
