The Ariane 5 rocket will have its last launch this week. The rocket had its first launch in 1996 and should end with 112 successful launches out of 117 attempts.
It could launch 35000 to 44000 lbs to low earth orbit and 15000 lbs to GTO (geosynchronous transfer orbit).
It cost 150 million to 200 million euros to launch in 2016.
The design brief of the next generation launch vehicle Ariane 6 called for a lower-cost and smaller launch vehicle capable of launching a single satellite of up to 6,500 kg (14,300 lb) to GTO. The finalized design was nearly identical in performance to the Ariane 5, focusing instead on lowering fabrication costs and launch prices. Ariane 6 is expected to have 75-115 million euro costs per flight which is about half of the Ariane 5 price. Initially development of Ariane 6 was projected to cost €3.6 billion. In 2017, the ESA set 16 July 2020 as the deadline for the first flight. Currently, the Ariane 6 is not expected to fly before 2025.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 sells launches for about about $55-70 million for normal commercial flights.
Ariane 5 and the Russian rockets pushed aside the US Delta and Atlas rockets. Falcon 9 pushed aside Ariane, Russian and chinese rockets mostly out of commercial launch.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
It was nigh unbeatable at precision.
“It could launch 35000 to 44000 lbs to low earth orbit and 15000 lbs to GTO (geosynchronous transfer orbit).”
GTO pay load record of Ariane 5 is about 11,2 to (ca. 20700 lbs)? What GTO pay load record holds SpaceX?
Ariane 5 was and is the Queen of GTO Missions. And Ariane will be still competitive as SpaceX has no cheap GTO access. It might change with the Starship. But I´ve my doubts. There are not enough payloads for GTO Missions and SpaceX might face the same problem Ariane had before. An Ariane 5 GTO Mission needs 2 heavy payloads to be efficient. How many payloads will SpaceX collect to launch one Starship?
I assume the market will be split, LEO with Starship, GTO for the new Ariane 6.
I think you may also be missing the salient point that certain groups of companies and nations may not enjoy being hostage to American dictates on spaceflight, whether they be from SpaceX or the US govmt.
Ariane represents a choice giving non American entities freedom from American and Russian launch platforms.
(well, just American now that RosCosmos is basically down the tubes)
SoaceX falcon heavy can do 59,0000lbs to GTO (Geosynchronous transfer orbit).. Falson 9 can do 12,000lbs into GTO with first stage recovery. Right now Spacex dominates the GTO orbit market. Araine 5 and ULA don’t launch as often and charge more for GTO orbit launches. They cannot compete withSpace X.
“SoaceX falcon heavy can do 59,0000lbs to GTO”
But they don´t do it! Still GTO record is held by Ariane 5.
” Araine 5 and ULA don’t launch as often and charge more for GTO orbit launches.”
They can do so because SpaceX does not offer cheaper. So why should they take less?
Go SpaceX! Forever grateful for the Euro rocket launch of the JWST,that rocket, performed particularly well. Merci.