Ariane 4

Ariane 4 was an expendable launch system, designed by the Centre national d'études spatiales and manufactured and marketed by its subsidiary Arianespace. Ariane 4 was justly known as the "workhorse" of the Ariane family. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the last, on 15 February 2003, it made 113 successful launches. It was known to be an extremely versatile launcher.

The Ariane 4 proved ideal for launching communications and Earth observation satellites as well as those for scientific research. During its working life, Ariane 4 captured 50% of the market in launching commercial satellites, demonstrating Europe's ability to compete in the commercial launch sector.^[1]

History

In 1973 eleven countries, called together by the European Space Agency (ESA), decided to take Europe down its own path in the space field. Six years later in 1979, Ariane 1 was launched from Kourou. Following development work on variants 1, 2 and 3, Ariane 4 was able to draw on the experience gained from these earlier variants.

The development program began in 1983 and the first successful launch was on 15 June 1988. The system became the basis for a European satellite launches with a record of 113 successful and three launch failures. Ariane 4 provided a payload increase from 1700 kg for Ariane 3 to a maximum of 4800 kg to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The record for Ariane 4 to GTO was 4946 kg.^[2]

The Ariane 4 Launch Team was awarded the Space Achievement Award by the Space Foundation in 2004.^[3]

Vehicle description

The Ariane 4 was the ultimate development from the Ariane 1,2,3. Compared with the Ariane 2/3, the Ariane 4 featured stretched first (61%) and third stages, a strengthened structure, new propulsion bay layouts, new avionics, and the SPELDA (Structure Porteuse Externe de Lancement Double Ariane) dual-payload carrier. The basic 40 version used no strap-on motors, while the Ariane 42L, 44L, 42P, 44P, and 44LP versions used various combinations of solid and liquid boosters. Development was authorised in January 1982, with the objective of increasing payload by 90%. Total development cost 476 million 1986 ECU's.^[4]

Originally designed to place 2-4.2 tonne payloads in geostationary orbit, the six Ariane 4 variants, aided by strap-on boosters, enabled the launch of payloads in excess of 4.9 tonnes on several occasions.

Variants

The rocket was used in a number of variants - it could be fitted with two or four additional solid (PAP - Propulseurs d'appoint à poudre) or liquid fueled booster rockets (PAL - Propulseurs d'appoint à liquide). The launcher included a satellite payload carrier system called Spelda (Structure porteuse externe de lancement double Ariane, French for 'External carrying structure for Ariane double launches') for launching more than one satellite at a time. The rocket captured nearly 60% of the world’s commercial launch services market, serving both European and international clients.^[5]

Ariane 4 AR 40 was the basic version, with three stages: 58.4 m high, a diameter of 3.8 m, a liftoff mass of 245 t and a maximum payload of 2100 kg to GTO or 5000 kg to Low Earth orbit (LEO). Main power was from four Viking 2B motors each producing 667 kN of thrust. The second stage had a single Viking 4B motor, and the third stage had an HM7-B liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen motor. AR 44L, with the maximum additional boost of four liquid fuel rocket strap-ons, was four-stage, weighed 470 t and could transfer a payload of 4730 kg to GTO or 7600 kg to LEO.

5 of the 6 versions of Ariane 4

Launches

The inaugural flight of Ariane 4 took place in 1988. Since then has accomplished 116 flights with a success rate of more than 97%. The final launch of Ariane 4 rocket occurred on 15 February 2003, placing Intelsat 907 into geosynchronous orbit.^[6]

Retirement

In 2003, Arianespace phased out Ariane 4 in favour of the heavy-lift Ariane 5. In 2011, the medium-lift Soyuz ST complemented the offering of launch vehicles from the Guiana Space Centre. Spacecraft launched by the Soyuz reuse the payload platform and dispenser originally designed for the Ariane.^[7]

Comparable rockets

• Delta II
• GSLV Mk-III
• Long March 2
• Soyuz-U

See also

• Comparison of orbital launchers families
• Tsyklon-4 (Ukrainian carrier rocket with fairing derived from Ariane 4)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ariane 4.

• ESA Ariane 4 launchers
• FAS Ariane 4
• A cutaway drawing of the Ariane 4

Ariane rockets
Main articles	Ariane family Arianespace Aérospatiale Airbus Defence and Space Snecma European Space Agency
Rockets	Ariane 1 Ariane 2 Ariane 3 Ariane 4 Ariane 5 Ariane 6
Launch site	Kourou/CSG ELA-1 ELA-2 ELA-3
Engines	Aestus HM7B Viking Vinci Vulcain
Launches	1979-1989 1990-1999 2000-2009 2010-2019
Related	Europa Vega Ariane 5 Flight 501 Automated Transfer Vehicle Hermes
Category Commons