Ariane Rocket Family

ESA / CNES / Aérospatiale / Airbus / ArianeGroup / Arianespace

After the failure of ELDO's Europa rocket and the formation of ESA, France, Germany and the UK started development on the Lanceur de 3e Génération de Substitution (L3S) program, later renamed Ariane, in 1973.

This led to the Ariane 1 rocket in 1979 and the subsequent Ariane 2, 3 and 4 rockets in 1986, 1984 and 1988 respectively, all with increasing payload-to-orbit capabilities.

1996 saw the first flight of the Ariane 5 rocket with a completely different design than it's predecessors. Late 2023 will see the transition from Ariane 5 to Ariane 6 keeping the payload to orbit roughly the same but with significantly reduced cost.

Ariane 1, 2, 3 & 4

Incrementally Increased Capacity

Ariane 1 to 4 were built by prime contractor Aérospatiale and slowly increased capability with each itteration. Their first and second stages were powered by a hypergolic Viking engine, with a cryogenic HM-7 powered liquid hydrogen third stage. Ariane 3 used two solid PAP-10 boosters, with Ariane 4 upgrading to 2 or 4 solid PAP-12, 2 or 4 hypergolic PAL boosters, or a combination of both.

Ariane 5

Heavy Launch Vehicle

Still placed in the Ariane family, the Ariane 5 lacks a common architecture with its predecessors. The heavy launch vehicle uses a Vulcain engine powered liquid hydrogen EPC (Étage Principal Cryotechnique) core stage, with a Aestus powered hypergolic EPS (Étage à Propergols Stockables) second stage. The ECA version however used an HM-7 powered liquid hydrogen ESC-A (Étage Supérieur Cryotechnique) stage. All were boosted at launch with two EAP side boosters. The ES version was used for ATV and Galileo launces.