Commissioning the table

Manager and operator of the launch table, as well as of most of the other Ariane launch facilities, Arianespace coordinates all operations and activities carried out at this facility, both during and outside launch campaigns, and oversees the commissioning of the table

Just like a building

Arianespace manages the Launch Table just like a building. It coordinates all of the activities carried out here by the various manufacturers involved in commissioning the launcher.

Planning for launch preparation operations as well as for maintenance operations takes place through the COPA(*). This is also the case for activities taking place in the Launcher Integration Building (BIL) and the Final Assembly Building (BAF).

For each operation, a FASO(**) is issued then stamped by the COPA and Range Safety before the operator can begin working at the facility. This allows traceability of operations - who did what on the Table - and ensures that people are safe while working inside or in the vicinity of the Table.

Like the other Launch Complex facilities, the Table belongs to ESA, which has entrusted Arianespace with its management and operation. This means that any modification to this structure, whether minor changes, process modifications or design changes, must be submitted to Arianespace for approval. Arianespace then issues a Change Proposal and commissions the work, to be carried out either by the manufacturer involved in the process, or by CNES’s Ground Systems Sub-directorate if it involves modifications to the structure’s actual design.

To supervise the work, whether it be campaign operations or maintenance activities, there is no actual “Table Manager” at Arianespace. The engineers are organised according to their skills and not by geographical site or launch facility. The table is mobile and can by definition be located in different preparation zones. Engineers are therefore involved in the operations in turn, depending on the activity sector for which they are responsible.

This concept of a mobile table is in some ways the ‘signature’ of the Ariane programme

Although its design was far simpler than that of Ariane 5, Ariane 4 also had a mobile launch table. Its table was far simpler because the satellite was integrated in the Launch Zone (ZL), so there was no need for all the equipment that safeguards the payloads during the transfer to the ZL.

For Ariane 5, the aim was for the launch zone to be as empty as possible, to avoid significant damage in the event of the launcher exploding on the launch pad. This is also why there are two completely identical launch tables. Moreover, they enable two launches to be prepared simultaneously, thus reducing the time between two campaigns.

A different design for the Soyuz launcher

The design for Soyuz, on the other hand, is completely different. Unlike Ariane, there is no real table. This launcher is commissioned using permanent facilities, whether at the integration building (MIK) or the ZL. Beneath the Soyuz launch pad is the service cabin, which is a kind of rack allowing access to the bays and other equipment, since the launcher is only connected once it has been erected at the ZL. This rack is removed at lift-off. The truck used to transfer the launcher from the MIK to the Launch Zone is therefore merely a means of transport.

(*) COPA: Coordination Opérationnelle et Planification Ariane [Operational coordination and planning for Ariane]

(**) FASO: Fiche d'Analyse et de Suivi d'Opération [Operations analysis and monitoring form]