ARIANESPACE HAS provided full details, of its guaranteed Ariane 5 launch service (Flight International, 16-22 November, 1994).
"If a satellite is lost during the launch phase - whether the failure is caused by the launcher or the satellite itself - the customer will be granted a free launch for a replacement satellite similar to the lost spacecraft," says the company. A contractual clause also provides customer compensation in the case of a partial loss of the satellite.
The Ariane 5's first commercial flight is due in October 1996, after two European Space Agency-funded development missions, starting with the maiden flight of the new launcher from Kourou, French Guiana, on 29 November.
The launcher can be used to place one payload weighing 6,800kg into geostationary-transfer orbit, but it is being marketed primarily for the launch of two typical communications satellites, such as Hughes HS-601s, with a combined weight of 5,900-6,300kg.
The Ariane 5 has a design reliability rate of 98.5% because of a "simplified design and an intensive qualification programme", says Arianespace, which says that it is "...responding to an increasingly prevalent expectation on the part of customers, who want launch-service providers to assume greater responsibility".
Under the Ariane 5 scheme, a customer need not insure the value of the launch service itself, but only the value of the satellite and additional costs, including operating losses. It will also benefit from a priority slot for a relaunch in the event of a failure.
Source: Flight International
