Ariane failure set-back for West

Press, 2 June 1986, Page 6

Ariane failure set-back for West

NZPA-Reuter Paris The crash of a European Ariane rocket and its satellite payload on Saturday is the latest in a series of disasters to cast serious doubts over the Western space industry’s launching ability. The Ariane 2 rocket was blown up shortly after blast-off from the jungle space centre at Kourou, in French Guiana, when its third stage failed to ignite. The year had started in the worst possible way when the American space shuttle Challenger blew up after lift-off from Cape Canaveral on January 29, killing all seven astronauts aboard and grounding the shuttle programme at least until July next year. Morale plunged at the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which had invested its reputation in the manned shuttle programme despite criticism that an unmanned launch capability was needed as well. Since then the agency has come under fire for lax safety standards, not only from the independent commission investigating the tragedy but also from astronauts, who have expressed reluctance to fly again until standards improve. N.A.S.A.’s need for a success made a second accident, the failure of an unmanned Delta rocket on May 4, all the more difficult to accept. That rocket, carrying a weather satellite, was blown up by officials after it veered off course 71 seconds into flight. The crash marked the end of a remarkable series of 43 successful Delta launches, going back to September, 1977, and was only the tenth failure in 177 Delta flights.

“We were counting on getting back on track with this ... we’re very disappointed,” said Delta’s project manager, William Russell. It was the third set-back for the American pro-

gramme this year. On April 19 an unmanned Titan 34D rocket exploded on launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California. N.A.S.A. had established a remarkable record for success in space flight over the last 25 years. But after the shuttle programme was grounded satellite operators were forced to look to Europe’s Ariane programme as the only viable Western commercial satellite launching system. The Ariane programme, which until last year could handle a maximum of only five launches a year from its single launching pad at Kourou, doubled . capacity to around 10 a year when a second launching pad was inaugurated in March. The Ariane programme suffered a serious setback in September when an Ariane 3 rocket with two satellites aboard had to be destroyed in flight owing to an engine problem. The failure delayed the launch programme for about three months. The latest crash will mean more delays. Arianespace’s chairman, Frederic d’Allest, would only say "it is clear that there is very great work to do before we give the go-ahead for the next launch.”

Mr d’Allest said an independent commission of inquiry into the crash was being asked to report by the end of this month.

“The consequences for the launch timetable will only be known after we have received the report of the commission of inquiry," he said. China and Japan are developing satellitelaunching capabilities but cannot yet handle large satellites.

Arianespace had 32 satellite launch contracts up to the end of the 1980 s, and a significant delay in the launching schedule this year could create serious telecommunications bottle-necks, especially for developing nations such as Indonesia, space officials said.