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When they made the choice of rocket, Ariane 5 was the most reliable rocket in the world that was capable of lifting it. Given the sticker price, they decided th
by Tuna-Fish 5y ago
When they made the choice of rocket, Ariane 5 was the most reliable rocket in the world that was capable of lifting it. Given the sticker price, they decided that cutting risk was more important than purchasing domestic.
- 1_player 5y ago"The [Ariane 5] launch vehicle had a streak of 82 consecutive successful launches between 9 April 2003 and 12 December 2017." Then one partial failure on 25 January 2018, and another consecutive stretch of successful launches, including today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_5
- perihelions 5y agoIt was far from the "most reliable" when this decision was made! >"Faced with a grim record of 4 failures from just 14 Ariane 5 launches, some observers were starting to ask if Europe's 25-year-old rocket programme is more trouble than it's worth." >"Although developed primarily for the commercial market, a new class of heavy-lifter rockets will also be used to launch the next generation of deep-space research probes, such as the planned James Webb space telescope, Southwood says." https://www.nature.com/articles/420723a https://www.nature.com/articles/420723a ("ESA weighs up future after Ariane explosion") [2002]
- 1_player 5y ago4 failures in the first 6 years of operation, and only 1 in the following 20 years is a good track record. How were the other launch vehicles faring in 2002?