Arianespace to Use Improved Soyuz Launcher Beginning 2007

The Soyuz 2-1a version lifts off from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

Kourou, French Guiana, Nov. 11/Satnews Daily/ ¾ The improved Soyuz launch vehicle will become part of Arianespace's expanded commercial launcher family operating from French Guiana. According to Arianespace, an inaugural flight of the improved vehicle is planned in 2007 from a new launch pad that currently is under construction at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

Arianespace said in a statement the Soyuz at French Guiana will become Arianespace's medium-class launch vehicle for commercial and governmental flights. By adding Soyuz to its family of launchers, Arianespace will be able to cost-effectively perform a full range of missions, meeting the company's goal of offering the capability to launch "any mass, to any orbit, any time." Soyuz will join the heavy-lift Ariane 5 and the lightweight Vega launcher, which is also scheduled to begin service in 2007.

The announcement was made after Soyuz 2-1a version lifted off successfully from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome on November 8, and carried a test payload. It used a digital flight control system with a high-speed onboard computer.

This new control system provides additional mission flexibility, and also will enable Soyuz to be equipped with a larger payload fairing for its future use in commercial Arianespace missions from the Spaceport.

The launch marks a major step forward in the Soyuz evolution program and the next step will be the introduction of the Soyuz 2-1b, according to the European Space Agency. This launcher version will have a more powerful third-stage engine to significantly increase the overall launch vehicle performance and provide additional payload mass capability. The inaugural flight of the Soyuz 2-1b is presently scheduled for mid-2006 from Baikonur.

Both new versions of the Soyuz launcher will be adapted in view of their exploitation by Arianespace from the Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. This will be made possible through the “Soyuz at CSG” ESA program, which encompasses the development of a Soyuz launch complex on the territory of Sinnamary and participation in the Soyuz 2-1b development.

The Soyuz at CSG program is a key building block in the implementation of strategic cooperation between ESA and the Russian Space Agency, which falls under the general framework of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and ESA on Cooperation and Partnership in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes, signed in Paris on 11 February 2003.

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