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JULY 1990, NASA TECH BRIEFS, VOL 14, NO 7
FRANCE: A LEADER IN SPACE
France has been active in space R&D since the early 1960s. In 1965,
France placed a satellite in orbit using its own resources. Today,
France is the number three spacefaring nation, after the United States
and the Soviet Union. French efforts are balanced between a strong
national program under the leadership of the Centre National d'Etudes
Spatiales (French Space Agency) and a leading role in the projects of
the European Space Agency.
A characteristic success of the national program is the series of SPOT
remote sensing satellites: SPOT 1 has been in operation since 1986; SPOT
2 was placed in orbit early in 1990; SPOT 3 is under construction; and
SPOT 4, decided upon in 1989, will ensure continuity of data until the
end of the century. Pictures from SPOT, with 10-meter resolution, are
marketed by the SPOT Image Company and its U.S. subsidiary, SICorp.
France promoted the European launch vehicle Ariane and made a major
contribution to the funding of the European Space Agency program.
Arianespace, the company set up to market the launcher, has gained more
than half the world market open to commercial competition.
The French space industry is the European leader, its capabilities and
experience range from the production of sensors and complex systems to
exercising full responsibility as main contractor for complete satellite
and ground equipment systems.
I am sure that beyond current scientific collaboration, illustrated by
the Topex-Poseidon project, the tradition of scientific and commercial
cooperation between France and the United States will go from strength
to strength.
-- Paul Quiles
Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Space
FRANCE'S HIGH TECHNOLOGY IN SPACE
France is the leading space power in Europe. Its space effort began in
March 1962 with the creation of a national space agency, the Centre
National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). France was a founding member of
European space organizations such as the ESRO and the ELDO, which were
replaced in 1973 by a single cooperative body, the European Space Agency
(ESA).
The French are politically, financially, and technically influential at
ESA. In addition to being the largest contributor, providing more than
a third of the ESA's funds, France has provided valuable proposals,
including the ESA's first launch vehicle, Ariane, and now the Ariane-5
heavy-lift launcher and the Hermes manned spaceplane.
Together with the Columbus space station initiated and principally
sponsored by Germany and Italy, Hermes and Ariane-5 are the largest and
most expensive programs underway in Europe. The development of this
unprecedented space triad represents a $20 billion investment by the
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ESA's 13 member states.
Ariane-5 is to replace past Ariane rockets for commercial launches of
geostationary and polar satellites. It is also designed to loft into
low-Earth orbit the Hermes spaceplane, which will service the European
orbital infrastructure, including Columbus. Hermes also will have the
capability to visit foreign space stations, including the American
Freedom station and the Soviet Mir facility. The hypersonic glider will
carry three crew members and three tons of payload into space station
orbits at approximately 450 km. Its initial autonomy of seven days
could later be expanded to one month.
Hermes and Columbus, while appearing modest compared to U.S. and Soviet
capabilities in similar domains, will be extremely important to Europe
because they will give it autonomous access to manned space flights.
This ambitious goal is within European capabilities, both technically
and financially. European aerospace firms, especially those presented
in this survey, have the high-tech capabilities needed to meet the
challenges of manned space flight.
FROM SATELLITE AND ROCKETS TO THE GOAL OF MANNED SPACEFLIGHT:
AN OVERVIEW OF FRENCH INDUSTRY'S ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES
This year, France will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its first
satellite launch. On November 26, 1965, the 41 kg Asterix satellite was
launched from Hammaguir in the Sahara Desert and put into orbit to test
the performance of its pioneering rocket, Diamant.
Sence then, France has continually increased its space effort. In 1990,
CNES will spend nearly $2 billion for space activities, with the lion's
share (40 percent) going to ESA. The French aerospace industry
presently employs more than 10,000 people, mainly skilled engineers and
technicians. Major French aerospace companies include: Aerospatiale,
Matra, Alcatel, Dassault, SEP, SNPE, Arianespace, CLS Argos, SPOT Image,
and Novespace. The latter four are among the 15 commercial subsidiaries
CNES has founded over the last 20 years.
REORGANIZING THE SPACE INDUSTRY
Three leading French aerospace companies are prime contractors for
satellite systems in the fields of communications, observatino, and
sci8ence. The government-owned Aerospatiale and the privately-led Matra
are manufacturing scientific, communications, direct broadcasting, and
remote sensing satellites as part of national and international
programs. Both have expertise in developing subsystems such as
structures, thermal and attitude controls, data processing equipment,
on-board computers, and software. They also develop instruments and
systems for biomedical and materials processing experiments in the
microgravity environment of space.
Alcatel Espace, the only major French company fully dedicated to space
activities, is a leading manufacturer of satellite payloads and space
borne equipment for communications and military surveillance systems.
The French Ministry of Defense selected Alcatel as prime contractor for
the Syracuse military communications satellite system. The contract for
Syracuse 2 is worth $700 million.
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Aerospatiale and Alcatel are working on an agreement to merge their
respective satellite activities into a single unit. The joint venture
should be established by the end of 1990. Matra Space recently teamed
with Marconi Space Systems to create Matra Marconi Space (MMS). Matra
is majority owner and will retain its previous deal with British
Aerospace to jointly develop Eurostar satellite platforms.
Matra has established alliances with several other European companies,
including Crisa (Spain), Spacebel (Belgium), and Intecs (Italy). These
joint ventures are part of an effort by aerospace companies to diversify
and build market share in order to cope with the unified European market
of 1993.
MATRA EXTENDS ITS BASE
Last year, Matra extended its strong European base by gaining control of
Fairchild Industries in the United States. The French company bought
three divisions of Fairchild -- Space, Communication and Electronics,
and Control systems -- with a combined staff of 2100 and total sales of
$250 million in 1989. The new entity, named the Fairchild Space and
Defense Corp. (FSDC), "will remain an autonomous American company"
according to Claude Goumy, MMS chairman.
With its European subsidiaries and American acquisition, MMS now
represents a space group with 4000 workers, sales approaching $830
million, and order totaling approximately $1.5 billion. The unit's
operating profit is between six and seven percent, according to Goumy.
MMS is now ranked third among the world's satellite manufacturers,
behind two American giants, Hughes Aircraft and GE Astro Space. Goumy
expects MMS to grow 15 percent annually. "The group will employ 5000
workers and achieve $1 billion in sales by 1992," he predicted.
Matra is involved in five areas of space business: communications,
observation satellites, scientific satellites and instruments, space
borne avionics, and launcher equipment bays for Ariane. The company is
prime contractor for numerous civil and military satellites, including
Telecom 2, Hispasat, Locstar, SPOT, Helios, ERS, Hipparcos, and Soho.
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (Soho), part of the international
Solar-Terrestrial Physics Program, will be launched by an American
rocket in 1995.
Matra has developed space-borne instruments for Earth Observation
satellites, including CCD cameras for SPOT and imaging radiometers and
infrared sensors for Meteosat satellites. One Meteosat radiometer set a
world record by sending more than 400,000 images during its seven-year
lifetime.
VSATs (very-small-aperture terminals) also attracted MAtra. Through
Polycom, a cooperative venture with France Telecom, the company has sold
more than 1000 VSATs in 70 countries. These one-way terminals are
jointly developed by Matra, Fuba of Germany, and Harris Corp., of the
U.S. Matra is now addressing the two-way VSAT market and also wants to
enter the direct broadcasting business.
One way Matra hopes to increase its space business is by expanding into
the area of satellite services. The French group is a shareholder in
service companies such as Arianespace and SPOT Image, and intends to
gain a foothold in the mobile communications business by participating
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in new ventures such as Locstar, the French radio-determination
satellite system (RDSS) initiated by CNES.
Locstar will be developed and operated by the privately owned company
Locstar SA, another commercial subsidiary of CNES. The L-band RDSS will
be a two-way system designed for mobile use on land, at sea, or in the
air. It will use two MMS-built geostationary satellites scheduled for
launch by Ariane in 1992. Locstar will compete with other RDSS systems
sponsored by international organizations such as Eutelsat and Inmarsat.
Eutelsat is presently promoting its Euteltracs system, a European
version of the U.S. Omnitracs system. Alcatel Espace recently signed a
contract with Qualcomm Inc. to promote and sell Euteltracs mobile
receivers in Europe.
ALCATEL ESPACE'S ELECTRONICS IN SPACE
The Alcatel group was restructured earlier this year and two new units
were formed: a radio, defense, and space company chaired by Jacques
Imbert, and a space division headed by Jean-Claude Husson, who also
serves as president of Alcatel Espace.
The French firm is a leading producer of communications satellite
payloads and space-borne electronic equipment, including power
amplifiers, repeaters, receivers, transmitters, multiplexers, filters,
and antennas. It develops satellite antennas for the 2 to 90 GHz range
and also produces ground stations. Telspace, an Alcatel subsidiary, has
sold more than 2000 Earth stations worldwide and is now moving into the
VSAT market.
Alcatel Espace has equipped more than 40 national and international
satellites. The company developed payloads and equipment for several
communications and direct broadcasting satellites, including TDF, TV
SAT, Tele-X, Telecom 2, and Eutelsat 2. It provided telemetry, command,
and ranging equipment for scientific satellites such as Giotto and
Ulysses, and produced much of the on-board electronics for SPOT, Helios,
and other Earth observation satellites.
Alcatel is a member of the international team For Aerospace selected to
build five new Intelsat 7 communications satellites. Moreover, it
received a contract from GE Astro Space to build a transmitter-receiver
for NASA's Mars Observer craft, scheduled for launch in 1992. The
equipment will relay data collected on Mars' surface by French balloons
deployed by the Soviet spacecraft Mars 94.
The first European experiment in inter-satellite link is being developed
at Alcatel Espace under a CNES contract. The Ka-band orbital link will
be tested between two European satellites: Olympus 1, already in
geostationary orbit, and the retrievable carrier Eureca, planned for
launch aboard the space shuttle in September 1991.
Under contract to ESA, Alcatel has participated in design studies of
Data Relay Satellites slated launch in 1996. The European DRS will
transmit data in the Ka-band at 400 MBits/s.
In summary, Alcatel Espace's know-how covers the technologies of
communications satellite systems from 400 MHz to 30 GHz. In cooperation
with the Canadian companies Spar and Comdev, the French firm is working
on military equipment using even higher frequencies -- 40-60 GHz (ELF).
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Alcatel's expertise extends to microwave instruments and data processing
techniques for space-borne synthetic aperture radars (SARs). The
company is in charge of the radio frequency calibration subsystem for
the Active Microwave Instrument of ERS-1, the first European radar
satellite. The radar processing equipment employs surface acoustic wave
devices and other innovative technologies developed by AME Space,
Alcatel's Norwegian affiliate.
Alcatel Espace is studying designed of C- and S-band imaging radars for
future civilian satellites, including the European Polar Platform. CNES
awarded Alcatel a contract to build a prototype SAR called Radar 2000
which will feature a resolution of 4 to 20 m with a field of view
ranging from 20 to 40 km. The rapid-scanning, phased-array antenna will
be fitted with several hundred transmitting-receiving modules using
monolithic circuits. Alcatel researchers are also studying a high
resolution space-borne radar for military applications such as the
detection of surface ships.
CNES awarded Alcatel Espace $20 million to develop the first French
space-borne radar-altimeter, dubbed Poseidon, which will fly with an
American SAR on the Topex oceanography satellite to be launched by
Ariane in June 1992. From its orbit 1300 km above the Earth, Poseidon
will measure ocean altitude with an accuracy of 3 to 4 cm. A prototype
of Poseidon is now being tested at CNES. "Its performance seems at
least as good as that of the American radar-altimeter," said Mr. Husson.
AEROSPATIALE: FROM THE FORCE DE FRAPP TO SATELLITES AND ROCKETS
Aerospatiale-Strategic and Space Systems Division is tasked with
developing satellites and rockets as well as ballistic missiles for the
French "Force de Frappe." This year, for the first time, "space is
exceeding military business," according to Michel Delaye, the new
division head. It represents about 52 percent of the division's total
turnover, estimated at $1.3 billion.
Over the past 25 years, Aerospatiale has contributed to the development
of 60 satellites and today is prime contractor for approximately 40
percent of all civilian satellites developed in Europe. Its space group
severed as prime contractor for several recent communications and
meteorological satellites, including Meteosat, Arabsat, TDF 1 and 2,
Tele-X, and Eutelsat 2. On May 28, Aerospatiale delivered the Eutelsat
2/F1, the first of five new communications satellites ordered by
Eutelsat. The satellite is planned for launch this year by Ariane, as
are the MOP 2 and TDF 2. TDF 1 and 2 are France's first direct
broadcasting satellites; they can relay up to five television programs
through powerful beams over France and most of Europe.
Another recent achievement by Aerospatiale's space division is the
Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), built for ESA. This sophisticated
astronomy satellite is equipped with a 60-cm aperture telescope
installed inside a large cryostat cooled by liquid helium. The 2.4-ton
observatory is slated for launch by an Ariane 4 in 1993.
Aerospatiale is developing several other French and European satellites,
including SPOT, Helios, and ERS-1. For the Helios military
reconnaissance satellite, it is providing the structure, solar panels,
and thermal control system, as well as the main instrument -- an
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optoelectronic camera that will take high-resolution visible and
infrared pictures. The first Helios satellite, weighing about 2 metric
tons, is planned for launch into heliosynchronous orbit by Ariane in
mid-1993.
Aerospatiale is the European leader in space transportation systems,
including Ariane rockets and the Hermes spaceplane. It manufactures
propellant tanks for the liquid-fueled Ariane rockets. The company
integrates the first and third stages of the launchers at a facility in
Les Mureaux, near Paris. New facilities were built to integrate the
Ariane 5's cryogenic first stage, which is 5.4 m in diameter and 30 m
tall. When fully assembled, it will be ferried by a barge to Le Havre,
where it will be shipped to Kourou.
Aerospatiale's space and aircraft division are working in tandem to
develop the Hermes spaceplane. "It's a challenging program that
requires major breakthroughs in several advanced space technologies,"
said Delaye. "But it will pave the way for the development of piloted
space systems and hypersonic reentry vehicles by European industry, who
will then be better prepared to address the design of future shuttles."
The company is also studying servicing vehicles for the European in
orbit infrastructure. This includes a transfer orbital stage and a crew
rescue capsule. Supported by its experience with ballistic reentry
bodies and Hermes, Aerospatiale has signed an agreement to assist the
Lockheed Missiles and Space Company in responding to NASA's request for
the Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV).
Delaye's team is conducting preliminary concept and design studies of a
follow-on to Ariane-5. This is part of the company's internal work on
future reusable space vehicles. According to Delaye, Aerospatiale
favors a two-stage, rocket-type vehicle that would lift off vertically
and land horizontally on a runway.
Aerospatiale's space aircraft and tactical divisions are participating
in an assessment study of hypersonic vehicles sponsored by the French
Ministry for Research and Technology. The aircraft division developed
the Concorde and is now cooperating with British Aerospace on
preliminary studies of a next-generation supersonic transport, while the
tactical division developed the world's only operational ramjet missile:
the ASMP medium-range nuclear missile.
DASSAULT GOES TO SPACE WITH HERMES
Dassault, the well known combat aircraft manufacturer, became a major
player in the space industry five years ago when it was named delegated
prime contractor for the Hermes spaceplane. Dassault's space activities
began in 1962 with the development of the MD 620 ballistic missile and
concept studies of a hypersonic vehicle called TAS. In 1972, under
contract to Boeing and Grumman, the company designed, developed, and
tested a candidate thermal protection system for the space shuttle.
The Hermes project marks Dassault's reentry into the space business
after more than a decade of absence. The company is responsible for
Hermes' aerodynamic design, reentry trajectories and related systems,
atmospheric light control systems, and subsonic flight tests. These
tasks are extremely challenging because of Hermes' small size and mass,
explained Jean Roubertie, Dassault's director of space programs. The
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spaceplane will weigh between 21-23 metric tons and be designed for an
extended flight envelope ranging from 160 to 16,000 knots and
atmospheric reentry from Mach 29. External temperatures will vary from
-101 to +1816 degrees C.
Hermes' aluminum structure will require thermal protection systems that
can support the effect of oxidation during 30 successive reentries.
"Hot" fuselage parts such as the nose, winglets, leading edges, and
control surfaces will be made of carbon and ceramic composite integral
structures developed by Aerospatial and SEP. "Cold" surfaces will be
covered by ceramic tiles or lightweight multilayered insulation
comprised of glass or quartz fibers.
Flight control of the hypersonic glider will be achieved through
configuration controlled vehicle (CCV) techniques developed for the
Rafale. For atmospheric test flights at subsonic speeds, Hermes will be
dropped from an aircraft carrier such as Airbus. Dassault has also
proposed using a modified Falcon jet for testing and qualifying approach
and landing procedures one year before the first orbital flight, now
planned for 1998.
Dassault is also involved in technology development for astronaut extra-
and intra-vehicular activity (EVA/IVA). More than 30 European firms are
developing EVA/IVA suits and life support systems under contract to
Dassault and Dornier of Germany. The IVA system includes ejection seats
for Hermes' three crew members. Dassault is considering using ejector
seats similar to those developed for the Soviet shuttle Buran. They
would enable safe ejection at speeds up to Mach 3.
In addition to Hermes, Dassault is investigating reusable hypersonic
space transportation systems as part of the Star-H study funded by CNES.
Star-H us derived from Dassault's TAS research. The new design employs
a large hypersonic plane to launch a small spaceplane propelled by a
jettisonable booster. This element is the only nonrecoverable part of
the 400-ton vehicle, scaled to carry a Hermes-type spaceplane in low
Earth orbit with a payload of approximately 3 tons. The Star-H program
aims to build a realistic data base on aerothermodynamics, airframe
engine integration, stage separation, structures, and materials.
Further, it looks to define aerodynamic codes, structural loads, and
other parametric laws which could be used in designing manned hypersonic
vehicles for space or transatmospheric missions.
Dassault is also conducting studies of planetary reentry systems in
cooperation with Marconi of the United Kingdom, Dornier, and SEP. The
studies involve various types of aeroshells designed to protect entry
probes dropped on outer planets or bodies such as comets.
Now in the beginning stages, space activities will account for a modest
three percent of Dassault's turnover in 1990. The company hopes to
raise that figure to ten percent.
SEP, THE MOTOR SPECIALIST
SEP (Societe Europeenne de Propulsion) is the only company in Europe
and one of the few in the world with the capability to produce both
liquid and solid rocket engines of various sizes for civil and military
applications. Its production ranges from small tactical missiles to
large stages of ballistic missiles and space boosters, and includes
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conventional and cryogenic liquid engines for space vehicles. The
company has 4000 workers and an annual turnover of approximately $800
million, according to SEP chairman Jean Sollier, who compares the firm's
size to that of Thiokol in the U.S.
SEP's main business is liquid rocket engines for the Ariane family of
launchers. The company will produce several hundred Viking and HM7
engines for Ariane 4 rockets. Each Ariane 4 uses nine Vikings on the
first and second stages and one HM7 on the third stage. The Viking is a
storable liquid propellant engine which delivers an average thrust
exceeding 700 kN. The HM7 is the first operational cryogenic engine in
Europe. The turbopump-fed engine burns a mixture of liquid oxygen and
hydrogen with a rated thrust of more than 60 kN and a chamber pressure
of 31-36 bars.
SEP is prime contractor for the Vulcain cryogenic engine that will
propel the Ariane 5's first stage. An open-cycle turbopump engine, the
Vulcain works under a chamber pressure of 100 bars to deliver
approximately 110 tons of thrust. It burns about 24 tons of hydrogen
and 128 tons of oxygen in 560 s with a specific impulse of 430 s. SEP
received a contract worth more than $260 million to develop the Vulcain.
The first engine, delivered in April, will be fired this summer at the
SEP test bed in Vernon, near Paris.
SEP has teamed with the Italian firm BPD to develop and manufacture the
Ariane 5's huge solid boosters. The joint venture, called
Europropulsion, received a $670 million contract. Ariane 5 will use two
solid boosters to lift the rocket during the first two minutes of
flight. Each booster weighs about 260 tons, including 230 tons of
composite propellant, and has a nominal thrust of 600 tons. The
boosters are 26 m long, 3.1 m in diameter, and have three segments,
including two weighing more than 100 tons. They are produced on the
launch site in Guiana.
The French firm is now developing advanced rocket engines for future
applications on launch vehicles. Last year, it successfully tested an
HM7 cryogenic engine equipped with a ceramic nozzle made of a carbon
silicon carbide material called Sepcarbinox. The engine was test-fired
for 750 s and 900 s and sustained operating temperature up to 1800
degrees C. The ceramic nozzle is 1 m in length and diameter and weighs
only 25 kg. SEP research shows that a cryogenic engine fitted with this
type of non-deployable nozzle can increase payload mass by 65 kg on
Ariane 4 and 1650 kg on Ariane 5.
SEP is also conducting research on low-thrust liquid engines under
contract to DGE. It has tested the major components of a 20 N engine
designed for attitude control of satellites and the Hermes spacecraft.
During preliminary ground tests, the injector and thrust chamber have
been fired for one hour at 1600 degrees C. Previously, the company
developed MMH-N2O4 engines for attitude control of TDF and TV-SAT direct
broadcasting satellites. It also built the Mage Apogee motor for
satellite transfer into geostationary orbit.
SEP has established technological and commercial links with some
prominent U.S. aerospace firms. Five years ago it signed a long-term
agreement with Rocketdyne to work on liquid propulsion concepts for
future launchers. It has sold licenses for its advanced composite
materials to three American companies: Corning Glass, for development of
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a carbon-carbon product for human prosthesis; Dupont de Nemours, for a
ceramic material used in a classified defense program; and B.F.
Goodrich, for carbon-carbon disks applied to aircraft brakes.
Earlier this year, SEP was chosen to provide the composite rocket engine
nozzle for the ERINT experimental missile developed by LTV. Flight
tests will begin in 1991.
"The U.S. is a high-priority market for SEP," said Mr. Sollier, who
hopes to participate in propulsion research for the National Aerospace
Plane and other U.S. aerospace projects. SEP and Snecma recently set up
a joint venture called Hyperspace to work on hypersonic propulsion for
future atmospheric vehicles.
SNPE: MAKING MAGIC POWDER FOR ROCKETS
SNPE (Societe Nationale des Poudres at Explosifs) is developing and
producing solid propellants for civil and defense applications such as
tactical and ballistic missiles and space rocket motors. Last year, the
company established a defense and space division headed by Pierre Dumas.
The division is responsible for half of SNPE's turnover, which amounted
to $650 mission in 1989. Five years ago, the group established a sales
branch in the United States, SNPE Inc., located in New Jersey, is
developing the company's full range of chemical products.
SNPE's main customer for space products is CNES. The company started
with UDMH (unsymmetrical dymethylhydrazine), which has been produced by
its chemical division in Toulouse since 1983. Initially, the liquid
propellant for Ariane rockets was purchased from China and the Soviet
Union. Now, however, Ariane's liquid fuel is produced in France and is
purer than the imported versions.
The company is working with BPD of Italy to produce solid propellant for
Ariane 5 boosters. They are using Butalane, a composite propellant made
of aluminum and ammonium perchlorate. It delivers a specific impulse of
244 s (French standard), which is similar to the performance of the
space shuttle's boosters. SNPE recently expanded its ammonium
perchlorate manufacturing facility in Toulouse to increase its annual
production form 800 tons to 6000 tons, which is half the production
capacity of existing U.S. facilities. The Toulouse plant will be
activated in July, according to Claude Grosmire, SNPE's director of
space propulsion.
SNPE and BPD have formed a new company called Eupera (European
Perchlorate Ammonium) to coproduce the chemical agent in Toulouse. The
companies previously established a joint venture called Regulus to build
and operate a manufacturing plant in Kourou for the two largest segments
of the Ariane 5 boosters. The "Usine de Propergol de Guyane" (Guiana
propellant plant) will be inaugurated later this year. The highly
automated plant will have only 150 workers.
Based on a launch rate of eight rockets per year, production for Ariane
5 will amount to 3800 tons by 1998 and is expected to continue until the
year 2015. According to Mr. Dumas, this represents an annual turnover
of more than $60 million for Regulus.
SNPE is also investigating new chemical molecules for advanced
propellants. One of the most promising is a polyazido-glycidyl known as
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PAG. An energetic binder is used instead of conventional polybutadiene
to achieve better performance in terms of specific impulse. PAG will
enable the development of nonpolluting propellants (without ammonium
perchlorate) for booster applications.
ARIANESPACE MARKETS LAUNCHERS WORLDWIDE
Arianespace is celebrating its tenth anniversary in 1990. The company
was founded in March 1980 by 36 leading European manufacturers in the
aerospace and electronics sectors together with 13 major European banks
and CNES. It was the first private company set up to fund, manufacture,
market, and launch large commercial rockets. In 1982, a fully owned
subsidiary, Arianespace Inc., was established in Washington, D.C. to
deal with American customers.
Arianespace has captured more than half of the world market for
commercial launches. In addition to nine initial contracts signed by
ESA, Arianespace has logged 83 launch contracts with nearly 30 customers
worldwide. Six American companies -- GE, GTE, Spacenet, Alpha-Lyracon,
Hughes Communications, GE Astro Space Division, and the Satellite
Transponder Leasing Company -- as well as two international
organizations -- Intelsat and Inmarsat -- have entrusted their precious
communications satellites to the European rocket. Global sales over the
past decade exceed $4.7 billion for the 83 satellites booked by
Arianespace, of which 54 have been launched. With the signing of nine
new contracts since the beginning of the year, the company now has
orders for 38 satellite launches, representing $2.8 billion in sales.
Last year, the company's total sales were $640 million.
This success is due in part to the pragmatic approach taken by Ariane's
promoters, who decided in the early 1970s that the best rocket for
commercial operations would be one of conventional design, optimized not
to achieve the highest expected performance but rather the lowest
possible cost.
The Ariane 1 made its maiden flight in 1979. Since then, Arianespace
has successfully flown improved versions including the new Ariane 4,
which will be the company's workhorse for the remainder of the decade.
The most powerful of the series, Ariane 4 enables single or dual
launches of payloads totaling up to 4.4 tons in geostationary transfer
orbit.
Among the 36 Ariane rockets flown during the past decade are eight
Ariane 4s. The eighth one failed during the last Ariane launch in
February (flight V36). Tighter quality controls have been introduced at
industrial levels to prevent the recurrence of such a problem. Launches
will resume in late July or August, according to Frederic d'Allest,
Arianespace chairman. To make up for the lost time, nine flights
instead of seven or eight are planned for coming years.
Last year, Arianespace awarded contracts to European industry to produce
50 Ariane 4s -- the largest single order for commercial rockets ever
issued. While fulfilling this order, the European space industry will
also be preparing the follow-on rocket, Ariane 5. First flights of the
more powerful rocket are planned for 1995 and it should be operational
for commercial satellite launches the following year.
Weighing 740 tons at lift-off, Ariane 5 will have a payload-carrying
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capacity of 5.9 or 6.8 tons for dual or single launches in geostationary
transfer orbit and a maximum of 23 tons in low-Earth orbit when
launching the Hermes spaceplane. Arianespace will commercially operate
Ariane 5 and is also a candidate to operate Hermes following its test
flights in automatic and manned modes, scheduled for 1998-99.
CLS ARGOS OFFERS LOW-COST DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM
CLS Argos markets a simple, low-cost data collection system consisting
of specialized electronic packages developed by French industry which
are installed on board NOAA weather satellites in polar orbit. The
system can locate transmitting beacons on the ground or at sea with an
accuracy of 300 m. Throughout its orbital track, the satellite
automatically receives the platforms in its field of visibility,
collects the data, and sends it back to a CLS data processing facility
in Toulouse, Melbourne, or Washington, D.C. A fourth processing center
will soon be opened in Tokyo. CLS headquarters in Toulouse is linked by
computer lines to the overseas centers and to its two subsidiaries in
the United States: Service Argos Inc., which operates the system for
North American users, and North American CLS, which develops value-added
products to complement the service.
More than 3000 Argos platforms are now in service worldwide. Initially,
the system was dedicated to environmental survey applications, but has
recently been extended to the field of environmental protection. As
part of a U.S. initiative to control fishing campaigns in the Pacific,
Argos has been selected to equip more than 700 fishing boats from Japan,
Korea, and Taiwan. "The most important use of the Argos system is to
protect ocean resources," said Michel Taillade, president of CLS Argos.
Earlier this year, CLS Argos signed an agreement with Eumetsat, the
European weather satellite organization, to provide a data collection
service on Meteosat spacecraft. This service, dedicated to
environmental applications, will begin in October. Next year, CLS will
provide the same service using the GOES series of geostationary weather
satellites operated by NOAA.
CLS Argos also operates the control center receiving radar-altimetry
data from Doris, the French orbitography satellite system, which was
introduced on the SPOT 2 satellite launched earlier this year.
"We foresee continued growth in CLS activities at least five more
years," said Michel Cazenave, CLS Argos chairman. The company achieved
a turnover of $10.5 million last year and is expected to reach $12
million in 1990. Areas of potential growth include oceanography,
meteorology, hydrology, and wild animal tracking. Last year the system
was used to track albatross. The birds were equipped with tiny
transmitters and released. The satellite tracking revealed that
albatross can fly for amazingly long stretches approaching 16,000 km.
SPOT IMAGE: COMMERCIALIZING REMOTE SENSING DATA
SPOT Image sells remote sensing data collected by the SPOT family of
observation satellites. Two SPOT satellites are now in orbit, working
in parallel to obtain visible and near-infrared images of the Earth.
Each spacecraft is equipped with two CCD cameras to capture
multispectral and panchromatic pictures at resolutions of 20 and 10
meters. These high-resolution digital images are easily processed and
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enhanced.
The SPOT 1 satellite, launched in February 1986 with an expected three
year lifetime, has lasted over four years. This fall, it will be
replaced by the SPOT 2 satellite launched by Ariane in January. The
second craft is a carbon copy of the first, as is the next satellite,
SPOT 3, which should be ready for launch in 1992. SPOT 4, an improved
version with a four-year design life and an additional midinfrared band,
is in the early stages of development. It will replace SPOT 3 when that
satellite can no longer function. "We'll be able to provide an
uninterrupted flow of data into the next century," said Gerard Brachet,
chairman of SPOT Image.
Last year, SPOT Image achieved sales of $23 million and should reach $26
million in 1990. Twenty percent of its market is in the United States,
where it has established a fully owned subsidiary called SICorp.
According to Brachet, the company's U.S. sales are expected to increase
by 25 percent in 1990. One reason is the $4.7 million contract the
Department of Defense recently awarded to SICorp for the delivery of
several thousand SPOT scenes, mostly 10 m raw data, by late 1991. The
data will be processed by the Defense Mapping Agency and used in
preparing the flight missions of USAF Tactical Air Command pilots.
Thirty percent of SICorp's customers are government agencies and the
other 70 percent private users and state organizations such as the
Florida Department of Planning and the Oregon Department of Water
Resources. SPOT data is used in such diverse areas as mapping,
petroleum, and mineral exploration, crop analysis, hydrology, and
hazardous waste monitoring.
SICorp recently introduced a product called Quadmap. It is a
"spatiocarte," a map developed from satellite data at the scale of
1/24,000 degrees which is compatible with maps provided by the USGS.
SICorp has already received an order for several hundred Quadmaps from
the U.S. National Forest Service.
The company's next product will be a "1AP" film for analog data
processing machines used by photogrammetry services to exploit stereo
images from SPOT. It also plans to introduce a set of spatiocartes at
scales of 1/50,000 degrees. With these enhanced products, SPOT Image
hopes to lure customers from the aerial photography market. "Our major
competitor is not Landsat but aerial photography," Brachet said.
NOVESPACE, A TEAM OF SKILLED CONSULTANTS
Novespace is the first private company created to put space technology
to profitable use in other economic sectors, and to promote the use of
space microgravity by industry. Established four years ago under the
impetus of CNES and eight banks, Novespace is directed by Jean-Pierre
Fouquet, who previously worked in this line with Aerospatiale, after
spending time as scientific attache for space affairs at the French
Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Novespace has assembled a team of highly skilled consultants that can
solve problems as diverse as finding French partners for interested
foreign firms (and vice versa), conducting feasibility or market studies
in high-tech fields, or performing product opportunity analyses for
microgravity research. This multifaceted approach has proven highly
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attractive to clients in Europe and Japan.
The company publishes a magazine called "Mutations" that presents
innovative technologies available for transfer. It is distributed free
of charge to 20,000 readers, including 15,000 in France and 5000 in the
rest of Europe, the United States, and Japan. Novespace acts as an
intermediary, bringing together technology developers and potential
users and following through on the transfer as they evolve toward their
final legal, financial, and technical status.
In the microgravity arena, Novespace is again taking a multifaceted
approach, ranging from promotion and consulting to actual system
operation. To make non-aerospace companies aware of the benefits of
experiments conducted in weightlessness, Novespace publishes a bimonthly
newsletter in French, "Mutations Microgravite," which reports on
worldwide activities in this field.
Since raising awareness is only the first step, Novespace also proposes
case studies and various experimental opportunities, encompassing drop
towers, experiments on board the space shuttle and Mir space station,
and parabolic flights.
Novespace was named exclusive commercial operator for parabolic flights
on a Caravelle aircraft converted by CNES for low-G experimentation.
This facility has been used by French, German, and Japanese clients for
more than a year.
FRENCH BOOST TO FAIRCHILD SPACE
Fairchild Space is the well known manufacturer of Explorer satellites
and multi-mission modular spacecraft for NASA. One of its top
achievements is the Topex oceanography satellite, which will be the
first NASA satellite launched by an Ariane rocket. Fairchild also
develops deployable masts, louvers, and other electromechanical
components for satellites.
The company is highly skilled in electronics. It has, for example,
developed a solid-sate mass memory called N-chip which is based on
three-dimensional VLSI. This "technological jewel" could replace
magnetic tape recorders on satellites within two to three years,
according to Mr. Goumy.
Fairchild recently was awarded two classified contracts from the
Department of Defense and has been selected along with another American
firm for definition studies of the new scientific satellite Gravity
Probe B. Fairchild is also competing for the Orbital Solar Lab and
looking for a role in the space station Freedom program.
The company is proud to have been chosen for the on-orbit servicing of
the Hubble Space Telescope. Fairchild first demonstrated its capability
for repair-in-space when it provided the tools and techniques for
repairing the Solar Max satellite. To maintain the Space Telescope over
its 15-year life-time, Fairchild has developed over 100 different tools
and devices, including a battery-powered screw.
"Fairchild's new goals are to participate in the follow-on Landsat
project and in the next generation of weather satellites. Tiros and
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DMSP, as well as the Mission To Planet Earth Program," Goumy said.
Matra's input will be crucial to Fairchild's participation in the Earth
survey program. The French company has extensive experience in
developing platforms, sensors, and complete systems for Earth
observation satellites. It is now constructing a large polar platform
called SPOT Mk2 for ESA's Columbus program. Equivalent to the U.S.
platform being developed for the EOS program, Matra's platform should be
suited for Mission To Planet Earth applications.
"The production of small satellites for civil and military applications
is another area where Fairchild could benefit from Matra's know-how,"
said Goumy. Such spacecraft, weighing only a few hundred kilograms,
could be used for scientific experiments, environmental surveys,
pollution monitoring, communications links, and a variety of other
applications. MMS and Fairchild Space plan to submit a proposal for a
worldwide mobile communications system based on a constellation of 24
small satellites in low-Earth orbit. The project will compete with
similar ventures such as Orbcomm and Starnet.
SOTEREM: PIONEERING THE MICROGRAVITY BUSINESS
Soterem is a good example of a successful small enterprise in aerospace.
The company was started 15 years ago with only ten people and $20,000
capital. Last year, it achieved sales of $6.5 million with a staff of
56.
The company serves as a design, engineering, and manufacturing
subcontractor in the automotive, nuclear, and space industries. In
addition to space kits, it has developed such innovative products as a
programmable electronic gearbox used to synchronize electronic motors, a
2D-vision recognition system, and a water-jet cutting machine that works
at high pressures to cut composite sheets for printed circuit boards.
Space activities account for 40 percent of Soterem's business. The
company produces satellite integration dollies, solar panel deployment
mechanisms, specialized battery chargers, and ground support equipment
for French satellites. It also manufactures pedestal structures and
servo-positioning mechanisms for ground tracking antennas. Moreover,
Soterem has extensive experience in developing sample cartridges and
space furnaces for materials processing in zero gravity. Its major
achievements in this area include:
o CPF (Crystal Pulling Furnace), a three-zone furnace designed to
achieve pulling speeds of 10^4 to 10^3 cm/sec, up to 1200 degrees C with
a thermal gradient of 30 degrees C/cm. CNES will use the furnace to
investigate thermo-solutal convection under microgravity conditions.
o AGHF (Advanced Gradient Heating Facility), a Bridgman-type furnace
for directional solidification of metals and semiconductors in
weightlessness. The AGHF works at temperatures up to 1400 degrees C
with a thermal gradient of more than 140 degrees C/cm.
o MZF (Multi-Zone Furnace), used for vapor-phase crystal growth
experiments. The facility has three independent isothermal zones heated
by sodium fluid circulating in pencil-like heat pipes. Four MZFs will
be installed in the MFA (Multi-Furnace Assembly) of Eureca, the European
Retrievable Carrier slated for launch aboard the space shuttle in 1991.
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o Mephisto, a sophisticated facility for studying materials
solidification in zero gravity. It can achieve a high thermal gradient
up to 500 degrees C/cm and solidification rates from 5.10^-2 to 5.10^-5
cm/sec. Soterem built the mechanical and thermal elements of the
furnace, designed by CNES and CEA (the French Atomic Energy Agency) as
part of a cooperative program with NASA. Mephisto is planned for six
flights on the space shuttle with the IML 2.
In 1988, Soterem was selected to develop the Large Primate Facility
designed to accommodate two Rhesus monkeys for up to 18 days in space.
The facility is to be delivered within two years to fly on the shuttle
as part of the CNES-NASA cooperative venture.
The contracts for the primate facility and Mephisto are the largest
Soterem has received to date. Each is worth more than $1.7 million.
"We now expect to address larger contracts and find other customers
abroad," said John Williams, Soterem's project manager for space
activities. Target areas include Asia, the Soviet Union, and the United
States.
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