Key facts
- Function
- Medium lift launch vehicle
- Manufacturer
- Aérospatiale
- Country of origin
- France
- Height
- 50 m (160 ft)
- Diameter
- 3.8 m (12 ft)
- Mass
- 207,200 kg (456,800 lb)
- Status
- Retired
- Launch sites
- ELA-1 , Guiana Space Centre
- First flight
- 24 December 1979
- Last flight
- 22 February 1986
- Carries passengers or cargo
- Giotto
- Powered by
- 4 Viking-5
- Maximum thrust
- 2,771.940 kN (623,157 lbf)
- Specific impulse
- 281 s (2.76 km/s)
- Burn time
- 145 seconds
- Propellant
- N 2 O 4 / UDMH
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 3.8
- Mass
- 207200
- Image
- Ariane 1 Le Bourget FRA 001.jpg
- Height
- 47.4
Show 4 more facts
- Commons category
- Ariane 1
- start time
- 1979-12-24
- end time
- 1986-02-22
- payload mass
- 1830
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Article
Ariane 1 ( French: [aʁjan œ̃]) was the first rocket in the Ariane family of expendable launch systems. It was developed for and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), which had been formed in 1973, the same year that development of the launcher had commenced. Aérospatiale was designated to lead the programme. 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 successor rocket Ariane 5 uses a far greater proportion of all-new elements.