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ARIANE 5: THRIFT IN THE WRONG PLACE?

It was thrift at the wrong place that caused the setback of the Ariane 5 project at its first launch on July 4 of this year. The computer software, which was taken over from Ariane 4, was not tested for the launch conditions of the new, heavier and more powerful, rocket. The official reason: The necessary test facility was too expensive for the French main contractor of the Ariane 5 program.

"The deficiency could have be detected in time", says Professor Wolfgang Kubart from the Technical University of Darmstadt who is a member of the investigating committee which presented its short but clear report on July 22. Along with this catastrophic neglect, the paper reveals shortcomings of the program management and furthermore demands more efficient control mechanisms, as well as, a stronger participation of the European space industry.

Jean-Marie Luton, the general manager of the European space organization ESA, avoided a clear apportioning of blame, but assured the implementation of the investigation committee's recommendations. This implementation, however, will take at least half a year, meaning that the next launch of an Ariane 5 rocket will not be possible until the spring of 1997. Only after this will a decision be made if a third test flight is necessary.

Even without the third test flight the mis-launch of the first rocket has generated additional costs of at least DM 300 million. This money must be generated out of the ESA funds which were supposed to finance the planned performance improvement of the Ariane 5 rocket. Germany's Minister of Research, J¸rgen R¸ttgers, has already made clear that Germany will not spend any more on the program which already sums up to DM 11 billion of development costs. Now, it's the turn of ESA and the space industries of the participating countries.

Meanwhile the scientific boards of the European space organization have agreed that the four cluster satellites, worth DM 800 million, which were lost on Ariane 5's first flight, are to be replaced, at least partially, as soon as possible. Supposedly, there are enough parts left to build a so called Phoenix satellite. If possible, this satellite is to be on board the next Ariane 5 test flight. The decision to build another three, smaller cluster or Phoenix follow-on satellites will be made later.

From page 41 of FLUG REVUE 9/96

The full report by the Inquiry Board is available from the ESA Website at
http://www.esrin.esa.it. Look for the press releases.