“On-Time-Launch capability for Ariane 6 Launch System”

Abstract: For space transportation systems used to place satellites in space, the launch rate fulfillment (turnover) and the launch delay reduction (avoid additional cost) are key parameters driving the launch cost. In addition, launching on-time is beneficial to the payload operator business model. In Europe, Ariane 5 has demonstrated its unmatched reliability with more than 80 successful consecutive launches. Due to increasing competition worldwide for space transportation systems, Ariane 6 will have to achieve the same reliability but with twice the launch cadence. This is the reason why, on Ariane 6, the On-Time-Launch capability has been taken into account since upstream development phases. Firstly, the main drivers for this performance have been identified (lessons learnt) on the complete life cycle. Based on cost approach, an allocation methodology has been defined, including risk severity and occurrence management. Then, mitigation actions and robustness to degraded cases have been deduced.