Ariane 1

Ariane 1

Ariane 1 mock-up (Photo taken at Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace, Le Bourget, France)
Function	Medium Lift Launch System
Manufacturer	Les Mureaux for ESA
Country of origin	Europe
Size
Height	50 m (164 ft)
Diameter	3.8 m (12.4 ft)
Mass	207,200 kg (456,700 lb)
Stages	4
Capacity
Payload to LEO	1,400 kg
Payload to GTO	1,850 kg
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	ELA-1, Guiana Space Centre
Total launches	11
Success(es)	9
Failure(s)	2
First flight	24 December 1979
Last flight	22 February 1986
Type of passengers/cargo	Giotto
First stage
Engines	4 Viking-2
Thrust	2,771.940 kN (623,157 lbf)
Specific impulse	281 s
Burn time	145 seconds
Propellant	UDMH/N2O4
Second stage
Engines	1 Viking-4
Thrust	720.965 kN (162,079 lbf)
Specific impulse	296 s
Burn time	132 seconds
Propellant	UDMH/N2O4
Third stage
Engines	1 HM7-A
Thrust	61.674 kN (13,865 lbf)
Specific impulse	443 sec
Burn time	563 seconds
Propellant	LH2/LOX
Fourth stage
Engines	1 Mage 1
Thrust	19.397 kN (4,361 lbf)
Specific impulse	295 sec
Burn time	50 seconds
Propellant	HTPB (solid)

Ariane 1 is the first version of the Ariane launcher family. Ariane 1 was designed primarily to put two telecommunications satellites at a time into orbit, thus reducing costs. As the size of the satellites grew Ariane 1 began to give way to the more powerful Ariane 2 and Ariane 3 launchers.

Vehicle Description

Ariane 1 was the first launch vehicle to be developed by the European Space Agency. It was developed from the L3S Europa launch vehicle replacement design. The development of the vehicle was authorized in July 1973. The cost of program is estimated at 2 billion euros. With lift-off mass of 210,000 kg (460,000 lb), Ariane I was able to put in geostationary orbit one satellite or two smaller of a maximal weight of 1,850 kg (4,080 lb).

The Ariane 1 was a four stage vehicle. The first stage was equipped with 4 Viking engines developed by the Société Européenne de Propulsion. The second had a single Viking engine.

The third stage had one LOX/LH2 bipropellant engine capable of a thrust of 7,000 kgf (69 kN). The fourth stage was powered by a single Mage-1 solid rocket booster producing a thrust of 20 kN

This design would be kept until Ariane 4.

Launches

The first launch was on 24 December 1979, and was successful. The second launch, in 1980, failed shortly after launch due to a combustion instability in one of the Viking first stage engines. The third launch succeeded in orbiting three satellites, and the fourth and last qualification launch was also a success.

During the next launch, the first commercial one, the rocket ceased functioning after 7 minutes of flight due to a turbopump failure in the third stage. After a complete review of the launcher, the next 6 flights were all successful. The Giotto mission's spaceprobe was successfully launched on the tenth Ariane 1 (flight V14) on 2 July 1985.

The first SPOT satellite was put into orbit by the eleventh and last launch of Ariane I, which was on 22 February 1986.

Launch History

Flight	Date	Launch Pad	Payload	Outcome	Remarks
L-01	24 December 1979	ELA-1	CAT-1	Success	First Flight
L-02	23 May 1980	ELA-1	Firewheel Subsat-1,2,3,4 Amsat P3A CAT 2	Failure	Combustion instability in one of the Viking first stage engines
L-03	19 June 1981	ELA-1	Meteosat 2 Apple CAT 3	Success
L-04	20 December 1981	ELA-1	MARECS 1 CAT 4	Success
L-5	10 September 1982	ELA-1	MARECS B Sirio 2	Failure	First commercial launch The rocket ceased functioning after 7 minutes of flight due to a turbopump failure in the third stage
L-6	16 June 1983	ELA-1	ECS 1 Amsat P3B (Oscar 10)	Success
L-7	19 October 1983	ELA-1	Intelsat 507	Success
L-8	5 February 1984	ELA-1	Intelsat 508	Success
V-9	23 May 1984	ELA-1	Spacenet 1	Success
V-14	2 July 1985	ELA-1	Giotto	Success
V-16	22 February 1986	ELA-1	SPOT 1 Viking	Success	Last Flight

External links

• The Ariane rocket family