/r/Arianespace
A subreddit for news and discussion on the European launch vehicle operator Arianespace and the Ariane, Vega and Soyuz launchers they market and operate.
Disclaimer- This is a fan-run subreddit with no ties to the company Arianespace
NET Date (UTC) | Vehicle | Payload |
---|---|---|
✅16 Jan 21:05 | Ariane 5 ECA VA251 | Eutelsat Konnect, GSAT-30 |
✅18 Feb 22:14 | Ariane 5 ECA VA252 | JCSat-17, GEO-KOMPSAT-2B |
✅15 Aug 22:04 | Ariane 5 ECA VA253 | BSAT-4b,Galaxy 30, MEV-2 |
✅03 Sep 01:51 | Vega VV16 | SSMS POC flight |
❌Nov | Vega VV17 | Ingenio (Seosat), TARANIS |
✅01 Dec 01:33 | Soyuz-ST-A VS24 | Falcon Eye 2 |
18 Dec | Soyuz-ST-A ST29 OneWeb Fl. 4 (x36) Vostochniy | |
28 Dec | Soyuz-ST-A VS25 | CSO 2 |
Notes
Dates/times are in UTC and will be adjusted as time goes on
Last updated 2 March
Arianespace is the launch vehicle operator and commercial marketing arm of the European Space Agency (ESA) for:
Ariane 5
Soyuz
Vega
Vega C (ETA 2021)
Ariane 6 (ETA 2021)
Vega E (ETA 2024)
Contrary to what is often thought, Arianespace does not develop or produce their vehicles, rather, they market and operate them independently from the manufacturer. Development is undertaken by the European Space Agency and production is done by several contractors in Europe, with Airbus Defence and Space, Avio Aerospace Propulsion, and Safran being prime contractors. In addition, Arianespace also purchases Soyuz launch vehicles and operates them out of Kourou, French Guiana.
Disclaimer- This is a fan-run subreddit with no ties to the company Arianespace
/r/Arianespace
Rarely has a design mistake been so clearly illuminated by a single picture. Note the Orion capsule is nearly double the size of the Apollo capsule in mass. But rather than making Orion’s Service Module twice as big as the Apollo Service Module, as it should be to get similar performance, instead it is 1/3rd smaller.
Orion’s service module is based on ESA’s ATV cargo tug to the ISS, which had a 4.5 meter diameter and a 10 ton propellant load.
BUT THERE WAS NO REASON TO KEEP IT AT THAT SAME DIAMETER FOR THE ORION USE, NOR TO KEEP THE SAME SIZE PROPELLANT LOAD.
If instead the diameter was made to match the capsule’s diameter, as was the case with Apollo, there would be an additional 20 cubic meters of volume inside the Service Module, well more than enough to hold an additional 10 tons of the storable propellant used.
And that is all that is needed to solve THE major problem of the SLS/Orion approach: the fact it can’t send the Orion and a lunar lander to low lunar orbit, and bring the Orion back to Earth again.
It is because of that the idea of the lunar Gateway was proposed, where the SLS would only have to take the Orion to a further out orbit.
But if instead the Service Module was given that additional 10 tons of propellant then it could send both the Orion and a ca. 15 ton lunar lander to low lunar orbit, and have enough propellant left over to bring the Orion back to Earth, a la the Apollo architecture.
Rarely, has a mistake been so clearly exposed, especially when its solution is so clearly made apparent as well.
Possibilities for a single launch architecture of the Artemis missions, Page 2: using the Boeing Exploration Upper Stage.
https://exoscientist.blogspot.com/2023/08/possibilities-for-single-launch.html
As the Ariane five is currently flying for the first time I relished something, the Ariane 5 was made with human space flight in mind, now that it is retired how come it never flew humans