The manufacturers

EADS-ST, previously Launch Vehicles - Centre de Guyane was founded in March 1996 in response to the increase in EADS activities in French Guiana related to the Ariane 4 programme and new industrial activities involving Ariane 5.

EADS-ST is a 100% owned subsidiary of the EADS Group. It has three industrial centres: the establishment at Mureaux in the Paris Region, the Aquitaine establishment near Bordeaux, the Guiana Centre at Kourou as well as branches at Brest, Cherbourg, Biscarosse and Toulon. It has a workforce of about 5,000 people.

Since the beginning of the Ariane programmes, which pivot around it, EADS-ST is at the very heart of European Space research, both in terms of its current and future projects and its industrial organization. Due to its outstanding technical and industrial capabilities it is the architect and first level customer for programmes.

Major programmes: Space launchers (Ariane, Soyuz, Vega), strategic launchers (MSBS, M51), orbital transfer vehicles (ATV), re-entry vehicles (ARD), Space research and exploration equipment.

EADS-ST is already considering projects for future vehicles and preparing the way for reusable launchers envisaged for around 2010.

Industrial architect

EADS-ST is the industrial architect for launchers in the Ariane family and in terms of this is responsible for systems engineering for launchers (design development and testing) and for technical management of programmes and interfaces (to ensure consistency). For each launch, EADS-ST undertakes mission analyses, provides flight programmes and analyses data after the launch.

Prime contractor for Ariane stages and industrial supplier

EADS-ST makes the lower composite of the Ariane 5 launcher (the main cryogenic stage [EPC] and the two booster stages [EAP]) and provides payload adaptors as well as many sub-assemblies (tanks, pyrotechnic chains, separation systems, among others). The EAPs are the biggest European-made boosters. They are partly made in the propulsion zone of the Guiana Space Centre by EADS-ST and its partners.

EADS-ST missions – CSG

The French Guiana Centre missions involve :

• integration, testing, inspection and acceptance tests for the Ariane 5 boosters,
• coordination of technical work and operational activities in terms of EADS-ST responsibility for Ariane 5 launch campaigns and tests,
• commercial actions in French Guiana,
• logistical and administrative support for seconded personnel.

EADS-ST – CSG operates the buildings used for preparing and storing solid propellant stages for Ariane 5 (BPE, BSE, BSP) and handles transfer of the booster stage form the BIP to the BAF on a special heavy duty trailer.

Air Liquide Spatial Guyane operates the liquid hydrogen and oxygen production plants for the launchers (LH2 et LOX) and fluid production plants (nitrogen and helium) which manufacture the cryogenic propellants for the main stage of Ariane 5.

Air Liquide, which set up in French Guiana in 1969, was integrated into the Guiana Space Centre in 1986 for the purpose of maintaining the cryogenic installations for the whole of the no. 2 Ariane launch complex (ELA 2) as well as for operating a liquid oxygen and nitrogen production plant. In 1988, Air Liquide started up a new liquid oxygen and nitrogen plant on the no. 2 launch complex. On 1 January 1991, given a considerable increase in Space activities in Guiana and at the request of CNES, the Air Liquide Management created Air Liquide Spatial Guyane, set up a local facility for producing and distributing gaseous helium at 200 bars and invested in a liquid hydrogen production plant.

Air Liquide Spatial Guyane operates five units on the Ariane launch base :

• a liquid oxygen and nitrogen plant
• a liquid hydrogen plant
• a plant for vaporizing and compressing extremely pure helium at 600 bars and 200 bars; this included an 11 km long pipeline
• a production plant for gaseous nitrogen at 250 bars – a production plant for compressed air at a rate of 12,000 m3/h

Air Liquide Spatial Guyane has four types of distinct responsibilities :

• maintaining cryogenic installations for the no. 2 and no. 3 launch complexes
• producing gas: liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, liquid hydrogen, liquid and compressed helium, compressed nitrogen and compressed air
• responsibility for logistics and transporting these products within the CSG
• commercial and administrative management from its offices on site on the no. 3 launch complex, thus enabling it to be close to its customers

The products delivered to Arianespace and to CNES for Ariane 5 tests are guaranteed to be extremely pure. They are in fact continually analyzed throughout the manufacturing process in order to meet the customer’s specifications within the prescribed lead times. Everything is done through a certified ISO 9002 quality organization – by trained, supervised personnel - to meet supply deadlines. Air Liquide Spatial Guyane also provides part of its production to local industry, craftsmen and hospitals in French Guiana.

Regulus is a joint subsidiary of FiatAvio (Italy) and SNPE (France); it operates the Propellant Plant in French Guiana (UPG) and produces the S2 and S3 segments for the Ariane 5 solid propellant stages.

The factory has a high level of automation. This enables it on the one hand to control the process in real time and on the other hand, to benefit from outstanding traceability which is essential for ensuring the quality of its products. The entire organization meets the main objective of the factory for the protection of life and property.

Ariane 5 lifts-off mainly due to its solid propellant motors. With a unit mass of 237 tonnes, these deliver a thrust of 540 tonnes with a combustion duration of 130 seconds and lift the launcher to an altitude of 60 km.
Regulus produces the large S2 and S3 segments for the Ariane 5 booster stages. The smaller, front segment, S1 is loaded in Italy by FiatAvio in the Colleferro factory in Rome.

Each structure which has been protected while empty then receives a liner to ensure bonding between the propellant and the thermal protection. This liner is made of the same binding agent as the propellant and is sprayed on by an automatic machine.

The propellant is a mix of the oxidizing element (ammonium perchlorate) and a reducing element (aluminium). The propellant is prepared with large capacity mixers (11 tonnes) known as mixing machines and then cast in a vacuum into segments with a central core. The core is then extracted once the propellant has hardened. Ten propellant tanks are necessary to fill one segment.

Europropulsion, a joint subsidiary of Snecma (France) and FiatAvio (Italy), operates the integration building for the Ariane 5 solid propellant stages (BIP) and integrates the motor for these stages.

Europropulsion SA, a French-Italian company under French law, was founded through collaboration between Snecma and Fiat Avio in order to be the European manufacturer for the solid propellant motors. It is the main contractor for solid propellant motors for the Ariane 5 launcher known as MPS-P230. Europropulsion is the prime contractor but is also responsible for technical synthesis and final assembly.

There are two MPS-P230 for each launcher which provide 92 % of the launcher’s thrust during the first two minutes of flight. Each MPS measures 25 metres in length with a diameter of three metres and a mass of almost 270 tonnes, including 230 tonnes of propellant. It consists of three segments, a thruster with a directional nozzle and an igniter.

Europropulsion signs subcontracts with Snecma for the nozzle and the body of the empty thruster (CPN), made by MAN, and at FiatAvio for the thermal liners, the igniter and the propellant, which is loaded at Kourou by Regulus (a subsidiary of FiatAvio and SNPE).

At the booster integration building (BIP) in Kourou, Europropulsion prepares the segments and integrates the MPSs. The company is also responsible for managing and maintaining the BIP on behalf of the European Space Agency. It provides EADS Space Transportation with the necessary facilities and units for integrating the EAP stage.

The personnel consists of about 40 specially selected and trained people responsible for ensuring the safety, quality and reproducibility of operations which are imperative for in-flight reliability of the MPSs.

The SNECMA – Rocket Engines Division – previously SEP (the European propulsion company no longer exists since its merger on 1 November 1997 with the large aeronautics group SNECMA) – is a group employing 22,000 people.

Its main activity is the supply of aeronautical and Space engines, equipment and related services. SNECMA is the world’s fourth leading engine manufacturer and the second European engine manufacturer. It has subsidiaries as prestigious as Messier-Dowty or Messier-Bugatti (landing gears and braking systems), Hispano-Suiza (thrust reversers and gondolas, power transmission), Techspace Aéro (aeronautical and Space engine components), SNECMA Control Systems (regulation systems).

At its site in Kourou, Europropulsion is a subsidiary owned partly by SNECMA (50%) and partly by FiatAvio (50%). SNECMA is still being restructured and its organization continues to evolve.

For the Ariane 5 launcher, SNECMA contributes to propulsion of the first solid propellant stage, also known as the booster stage (EAP) which it develops and for which it makes the nozzle. It also acts as prime contractor for propulsion of the main cryogenic stage (EPC) and for this purpose develops the Vulcain engine.