France became the third nation in space to launch a national satellite on an indigenously developed booster - after the Soviet Union and the USA - on 26 November, 1995, and it has never looked back. The nation now employs over 13,000 people directly in space activities, 8,000 in industry, primarily with Aerospatiale, Alcatel Espace, Matra Marconi Space and Societe Européenne de Propulsion (SEP). The French space industry accounts for about 20% of all national military and civil aerospace sales, in no small part because of its major role in several leading commercial space initiatives and agencies.
France's first satellite was a 41.5kg research craft called the Asterix, which was launched by a French Diamant rocket from the Hammaguir base in the Sahara. Three more Hammaguir launches later, satellite-launch operations began in Kourou, French Guiana, on 10 March, 1970 (see box). Today, Kourou is a vibrant centre for international commercial-satellite launches.
The French space agency, CNES, operates what is now known as the Centre Spatial Guyanais, which is used by Arianespace, Europe's successful commercial-launcher company. Today, Arianespace has 50% of the global satellite market, with an outstanding orderbook of 39 satellites (after the launch of the V95), worth more than $3 billion. CNES has a 32.22% share in the company, and French companies hold 23.32%, making France the leading shareholder with more than 55%.
Aerospatiale and SEP are the leading companies involved in the production of the Ariane 4 and 5 launcher fleet. Aerospatiale is the industrial architect for Ariane and SEP provides the main liquid-propulsion units, including the Ariane 5's 1,145kN Vulcain cryogenic liquid oxygen-liquid hydrogen first-stage engine. To maintain its competitiveness after 2003, the Ariane 5 will be fitted with the SEP Vulcain Mk2, with its thrust increased to 1,350kN.
Ariane 502 hopes
After a successful second development test-flight of the Ariane 502 later this year, the French and European space industries will be able to put the 501 disappointment behind them and seek eventually to maintain Arianespace's lead in the increasingly competitive world market, after inaugurating commercial operations on flight V504 in 1998/9.
Although Arianespace has enough Ariane 4 models to keep flying until 2000, it needs the Ariane 5 to meet stiff competition, especially from the ILS International Launch Services' Atlas and Proton fleet, the McDonnell Douglas-Boeing Delta 3, the Boeing-led Sea Launch and Japan's H2A.
As well as providing the backbone to Arianespace, France is also the lead player in the European Space Agency (ESA), again providing the major impetus behind its formation in 1975. The country's 26% funding of ESA compares with the 20% and 14% shares held by the next major contributors to the agency, Germany and Italy, respectively. As a result of ESA funding, French industry has been rewarded, through the "juste retours" policy, with over 30% of the space agency's contracts. The policy is, however, being phased out by ESA to promote better competition in Europe, which may reduce France's share.
In addition to launcher development, France's work with ESA has primarily been in the Earth observation, science and communications-satellite segments, microgravity experiment equipment for the US Space Shuttle, Spacelab and the Russian Mir space station, and in unmanned and manned space transportation.
A major disappointment for France was the cancellation of the Hermes manned spaceplane, around which the Ariane 5 was originally designed. Instead it is leading the initiative for other transport systems designed to support the fragile International Space Station (ISS) programme, the initial construction of which has been delayed yet again to late 1998. An Ariane 5-launched Automated Transfer Vehicle is being developed by an Aerospatiale-led industrial consortium and a proposed Apollo-like Crew Transfer Vehicle is being studied.
French industry has led in the development of several high-profile European science missions, including most recently, the Infrared Space Observatory, built by Aerospatiale; the Matra Marconi Space-built Solar Heliospheric Observatory and the Aerospatiale-led Huygens spacecraft which is now ready for launch to Saturn's moon, Titan, together with NASA's Cassini Saturn orbiter in October. The Huygens has been designed to soft land on Titan in 2004 after a 2.5h descent into the atmosphere.
Several of ESA's Earth-observation satellites are built by French prime contractors, including the Meteosat satellites, operated for Eumetsat, and built by Aerospatiale and the new-generation polar platforms, starting with the MMS-built Envisat.
In manned spaceflight, CNES has long taken the view that national spaceflight experience was essential to its future work in space and not surprisingly, a French test pilot, Jean-Loup Chretien, became the first Western European in space, flying aboard the Soviet Union's Salyut 7 space station in 1982. France and the Soviet Union had forged earlier co-operative links in unmanned spaceflight, starting with a joint Soviet-Franco satellite in 1971.
Since Chretien's flight, France has operated an astronaut corps independent of ESA and organised its own commercial flights aboard the Russian space station, most recently paying Russia Fr176 million ($30.4 million) for three manned flights in 1993-7, not including France's investment in flight experiments. French astronauts are also employed by NASA as mission specialists for Space Shuttle missions and a CNES astronaut has flown as a payload specialist scientist on a Spacelab/Space Shuttle mission.
Another successful French-led initiative has been the formation of Spot Image to enter the commercial remote-sensing industry market. This initiative began in 1978, and Spot Image was established with $41 million capital in 1982, with 39% funding from CNES. It has three subsidiaries in the USA, Australia and Singapore.
By 1995, the company's revenue from satellite-derived data and product sales was $41 million, with accumulated sales of $273 million. Three multi-spectral and panchromatic imaging satellites have been launched, starting in 1986, but the Spot 4 is now urgently needed after failures aboard the Spot 3. The Spot 5, to be launched in about 2002, will be configured for 5m resolution imagery, compared with the present 10m capability.
CNES is responsible for the design and development of all national military space projects. As a result of its experience with the development of the Spot system, France initiated the Helios military surveillance-satellite programme, with 14% and 7% funding from Italy and Spain.
The Helios 1 - developed in tandem with the Spot 4 to reduce costs - was launched in July 1995 and the Helios 1B is due for a launch in 1997. Like the 1A, it can return images with a 1m resolution. Images of 500mm resolution are expected from the Helios 2, a new craft being developed with Germany, which is planning to produce the complementary Horus radar satellite.
In military space communications, France's Telecom communications satellites carry the Syracuse X-band transponder package for secure Ministry of Defence links with overseas territories. There have been two Telecom satellite series, but as France Telecom is being privatised, there is unlikely to be a third generation.
Stentor investment
France is investing about Fr2 billion in the Stentor communications satellite, to be launched by the Ariane 5 in 2000 to develop and demonstrate communications and spacecraft technologies to help French industry compete with the USA and other international commercial competitors in the lucrative business of building geostationary orbiting spacecraft. The Stentor project is an industrial effort involving Aerospatiale, Alcatel Espace and Matra Marconi Space, with the support of CNES, France Telecom and the French ministry of defence. It will carry Ku-band, Ka-band and L-band transponders.
Aerospatiale had been regarded as the leading French communications-satellite contractor until the merger of Matra Marconi Space and British Aerospace's Space division, which kick-started a communications-satellite business boom at MMS. This state of affairs was largely the result of MMS becoming the first fully integrated European communications satellite manufacturer, compared with Aerospatiale's major use of subcontractors, including Alcatel and Germany's Deutsche Aerospace. These three companies have forged close links with Space Systems/Loral, which contracts Aerospatiale to complete work on US satellites.
The vital rationalisation of the European space business to compete in the world market, illustrated Ìrst by the Matra Espace and Marconi Space merger in 1990 - followed by its link with BAe - is likely to continue with the hoped-for formalisation of the space link between Aerospatiale and Daimler-Benz Aerospace, as European Space Industries based in Munich. This, and the associated missiles merger between the two, is on hold pending the outcome of the Thomson and Aerospatiale privatisations.
CNES, in co-operation with the French space industry, has also established six organisations to exploit and market its space activities. These include Novespace, Intespace and Prospace, which acts as a free intermediary for potential users. Novespace was established in 1986 to further the commercial use of microgravity. Intespace has operated CNES' testing buildings at Toulouse since 1983, providing test halls, laboratories and clean-rooms to support Ariane 4/5 class satellites weighing up to 4,000kg.
Source: Flight International
