4 ms·
Naive Q: what makes Ariane 5 better than Falcon 9/Heavy here?
by dustintrex 5y ago
Naive Q: what makes Ariane 5 better than Falcon 9/Heavy here?
- jorge-d 5y agoIts track record is almost perfect
- Symbiote 5y agoIt existed and was already a reliable launch vehicle when the project was being designed and constructed.
- robin_reala 5y agoFalcon didn’t exist when the choice was made, which makes Ariane automatically better.
- gameswithgo 5y ago80 something flawless launches in a row
- WJW 5y agoFalcon 9 does not have enough capacity; the JWST is too heavy for it to launch all the way to L2. So F9 is out. Falcon Heavy does have enough capacity, but: 1. It was not really available for bookings when the JWST mission was planned and 2. even if NASA could choose again today, Ariane 5 has a track record of 106 successes out of 111 launches (107 out of 112 now I guess) and Falcon Heavy is still relatively untested with only 3 launches (all of which were successful, but still only 3). For something super critical you might want to go with old but dependable technology over the newest hotness.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]