Ariane 1

Ariane 1

Ariane 1 mock-up (Photo taken at Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace, Le Bourget, France)
Function	Medium lift launch vehicle
Manufacturer	Aérospatiale for ESA
Country of origin	Europe
Size
Height	50 m (164 ft)
Diameter	3.8 m (12.4 ft)
Mass	207,200 kg (456,700 lb)
Stages	4
Capacity
Payload to LEO	1,400 kilograms (3,100 lb)
Payload to GTO	1,850 kilograms (4,080 lb)
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	ELA-1, Guiana Space Centre
Total launches	11
Successes	9
Failures	2
First flight	24 December 1979
Last flight	22 February 1986
Notable payloads	Giotto
First stage
Engines	4 Viking-2
Thrust	2,771.940 kN (623,157 lbf)
Specific impulse	281 s
Burn time	145 seconds
Fuel	UDMH/N2O4
Second stage
Engines	1 Viking-4
Thrust	720.965 kN (162,079 lbf)
Specific impulse	296 s
Burn time	132 seconds
Fuel	UDMH/N2O4
Third stage
Engines	1 HM7-A
Thrust	61.674 kN (13,865 lbf)
Specific impulse	443 sec
Burn time	563 seconds
Fuel	LH2/LOX
Fourth stage
Engines	1 Mage 1
Thrust	19.397 kN (4,361 lbf)
Specific impulse	295 sec
Burn time	50 seconds
Fuel	HTPB (solid)

Ariane 1 was the first rocket in the Ariane family of expendable launch systems. It was developed and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), which had been formed in 1973, the same year that development of the launch had commenced.

Ariane 1 was the first launcher to be developed with the primary purpose of sending commercial satellites into geosynchronous orbit. Crucially, it was designed with the ability of sending a pair of satellites into orbit on a single launcher, thus reducing costs. As the size of satellites grew, Ariane 1 quickly gave way to the more powerful Ariane 2 and Ariane 3 launchers, which were heavily based upon the original rocket. The Ariane 4 was the last rocket to heavily draw upon the Ariane 1, as the successive Ariane 5 having been developed using a far greater level of all-new elements.

In 1973, eleven European countries decided to pursue joint collaboration in the field of space exploration and formed a new pan-national organisation to undertake this mission, the European Space Agency (ESA). For some time prior to the ESA's formation, France had been lobbying for the development of a new European expendable launch system to serve as a replacement for the Europa rocket; one proposed successor in the form of a refined Europa, referred to as the Europa IIIB, was studied but was found to be too ambitious and costly. As a result, the Europa IIIB proposal was scaled back and soon reemerged as the L3S. Multinational effort became a quick focus point for the L3S proposal; early on, emphasis was placed upon cooperation on the initiative between Germany and France, while increasing contribution from other countries also came into the picture over time.

In January 1973, Willy Brandt, the Chancellor of Germany, formally agreed to the L3S project following a series of personal approaches by Georges Pompidou, the President of France. On 21 September 1973, the legal agreement for the L3S, was signed. Under this agreement, the Europa III was formally cancelled, while the L3S would be developed as a multinational project. From the onset, the launcher was to be developed for the purpose of sending commercial satellites into geosynchronous orbit, unlike many other competing launchers, which had been typically developed for other purposes and subsequently adapted, such as ballistic missiles. Development of L3S was seen as a crucial test for the ESA, the fortunes of the former being viewed as being highly indicative for the future of the latter. According to author Brian Harvey, L3S was "one of the major European engineering projects in the last quarter of the century".