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PARIS — Europe’s heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket will be unable to launch any commercial missions for the next six months because of worsening payload compatibility issues that Ariane 5 designers hope to solve with the vehicle’s planned upgrade.
But that modification, called Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (ME), will not make its first flight before 2016 at the earliest and will not be in regular service before 2018 — and then only if European governments approve the program’s remaining development budget, estimated at about 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion).
Following an agreement between France and Germany on Ariane 5 ME, the 19-nation European Space Agency (ESA) is expected to approve the program during a conference in late 2012.
Full story
-http://www.spacenews.com/launch/110923-struggle-stacking-payloads-ariane5.html
But that modification, called Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (ME), will not make its first flight before 2016 at the earliest and will not be in regular service before 2018 — and then only if European governments approve the program’s remaining development budget, estimated at about 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion).
Following an agreement between France and Germany on Ariane 5 ME, the 19-nation European Space Agency (ESA) is expected to approve the program during a conference in late 2012.
Full story
-http://www.spacenews.com/launch/110923-struggle-stacking-payloads-ariane5.html