Arianespace Ready for Liftoff

stuckinarut writes to tell us Arianespace is reporting that their newest Ariane dual-satellite ECA mission rolled out of the assembly building and is set for a launch today (Nov 12) at 2345 GMT. This flight is set to demonstrate the massive lift capacity of nearly 10,000 kg and is currently the "only commercial vehicle that can launch two mainstream telecommunications satellite payloads on the same mission."

Comments

Commercial space race

[CdXiminez]

A new Ariane and the Galileo GPS well under way, it seems Europe is into the space race in a very commercial way.

Re:Been there, done that

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Maybe you missed the connection that the Space shuttle is a government vehicle, and is not accepting or launching commercial payload? Actually, it's not launching anything right now.

Re:More important than it seems

[WhiplashII]

I doubt the launch is that much cheaper, and in the long run it definately won't be. Look at it this way - yes, there is a small marginal decrease in launch price as mass increases. But there is a much larger marginal increase in launch price as launch rate goes down. This could have been done in two launches. The vehicle design cost and launch personel cost (the primary cost components) is slightly higher (per kg) for a lower launch mass, but the cost is sunk (you have to pay the people even when you do not launch, and you have to pay interest on your design cost loans even when you do not launch). Essentially, the second launch is almost free! The only reason is doesn't seem that way is cost accounting, where the cost is spread out per flight. A more realistic accounting method is to say that the first flight costs $10B, and every flight thereafter costs only $10M.

In the free market, most companies know this - but in a government market, no one cares...