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October 30, 2009

Ariane 5 flies again

Did anyone notice that Arianne 5 flew again yesterday (October 29) when it flew before only on October 1? This means that Arianespace can cast/case 2 solid rocket motors, stack the vehicle and recycle the pad in less than a month. Their previous record was 8 launches a year, IIRC.

Soyuz still has the record for achieved turnarounds (1 week), with Zenith having the best designed turnaround (that was never proven, again IIRC).

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 03:22 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Is it possible that Arianespace had the SRMs stockpiled and ready to go, thereby shortening the turnaround time?  Serious question, I know next to nothing about the Ariane project or what the turnaround time for solid fuel is.

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 01, 2009 09:41 PM (4Mcos)

2 They did 8 launchers per year before, which is only 50% off capacity to launch 12 times per year.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at November 02, 2009 01:26 PM (/ppBw)

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