Ariane 5 characteristics
Ariane 5 characteristics

  • Mass at lift-off : 750 to 780 tonnes
  • GTO orbit positioning capability : 6.9 to 10 tonnes
  • Thrust : 200 to 1,300 tonnes
  • Height : 47 to 57 m
  • Nominal lifetime : 1996 -...

Did you know?

ARIANE 5 :

  • weighs 700 tonnes on lift-off, in other words 10 % of the weight of the Eiffel tower;
  • takes 130 seconds to burn the 237 tonnes of propellant in each booster;
  • has a Vulcain engine whose power is equal to that of a nuclear power plant;
  • required 700,000 hours of work by about 6,000 European employees during the most intensive parts of the programme;
  • amounted to an overall cost of about 45 billion francs;
  • involved 1,100 manufacturers in the project.


Source : cnes.fr