We almost expected, but the result is finally here. Eighteen months after the legal establishment of the company, Airbus and Safran have finally finalized, Thursday, June 30 on the sidelines of Cospace (government-industry consultation committee in space), the launch of their new joint venture dedicated to space launchers, Airbus Safran Launchers (ASL). The operation, for which Safran will pay 750 million euros to reach a 50-50 balance in the capital, gave birth to a new European champion of EUR 2.3 billion in revenues and 8,400 employees, which has the difficult task of developing Ariane 6 for a first flight late 2020. the objective is clear: meet the Californian SpaceX lightning offensive, which has reshuffled the cards market with a Falcon 9 launch vehicle offered $ 62 million, against about 200 million to Ariane 5 (which launches two satellites at a time).
the creation of ASL she will be sufficient to counter the company Elon Musk? Failing to be sufficient, it was necessary. Before the operation, responsibilities and industrial loads were distributed between multiple actors: there was a prime contractor for Ariane 5 (Airbus Defence and Space), a manufacturer of rocket engines (Safran), a trading company responsible for selling launches (Arianespace), all under the supervision of the space agencies (CNES and ESA, in particular).
Divide production costs by two
in the new configuration ASL will design 70% of the added value of Ariadne, and hold a majority stake in Arianespace. ASL is well aligned with the integrated model that made the success of its American competitor. “At SpaceX, everything is on a site, likes to tell Jean-Yves Le Gall, head of CNES. On the ground floor, the production, with a lino floor. On the first floor, the design office with carpeted floors. in the second, commercial services, with wooden floors. ” Certainly, ASL will never be as effective as a start-up that the integrated model is inherent in the strategy, but the progress is noticeable.
The delivery to the square of the European space industry is, anyway, that the first stage of the rocket. The real question now is to develop a truly competitive Ariane 6, which means to keep the promises of reducing production costs. ASL, it does not provide exact figures, committed to price 70 million to launch light version of Ariane 6, called Ariane 62, and 90 million for the heavy version, called Ariane 64. These figures imply a halving of costs compared to those of Ariane 5. Arianespace boss Stéphane Israel is confident: “in terms of production costs, we are exactly where we should be,” de jure -t it.
scale Effects on engines
ASL will particularly be able to rely on the technical choices made for Ariane 6. According to his version, the rocket will incorporate two four engines powder, the P120, which will be shared with those of small European launcher Vega-C. ASL will therefore be able to play on the effects of scale: the group will produce 35 solid motors per year, against 14-16 for the current Ariane 5. Again, the European group is based SpaceX, which produces 10 Merlin engines Falcon 9 launch vehicle (9 to the first floor and one in the second). But on this subject also, ASL can not hope to be as effective as the US rival, which produces 200 engines a year
ASL will also face a traditional handicap of the European space industry. Absence wholesale captive institutional market. Unlike American actors like SpaceX or ULA, who can count on many government launches (spy satellites, GPS …), Ariane 5 has to settle for a two institutional launches per year or no some years, limit its ability to play the scale effect and reduce costs. “We have in front of us actors with a huge domestic market closed to foreign groups, who can practice much higher prices by exporting,” says Stéphane Israel.
To “Buy European Act “?
the industry therefore calls for a kind of” Buy European Act “space, a European preference for Ariane and Vega 6 whose contours remain to be defined. Such a project would also be a response to Washington’s policy on the matter: only pitchers with more than 51% of the value added is “made in America” can launch US government satellites
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