Ariane V

The Ariane V represents Europe's latest endeavour in the space launch vehicle arena.  Conceived in the mid-1980's as a follow on to the highly successful Ariane IV program, the Ariane V was designed to have larger lifting capacities and a sufficiently high reliability to launch a European Space Shuttle, which was then under consideration.

The Ariane V has a large central structure containing the main liquid fuel engine and the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks. Two strap-on solid rocket boosters are also fastened to this, one on either side.  The Ariane V is launched from Europe's launch site situated at Kourou, French Guiana, in South America.

Although its first and so far only launch was unsuccessful (due to errors in the guidance software), the Ariane V is seen as a highly competitive space launcher for the remainder of the 1990's and into the early 21st century.  The Ariane V is currently being proposed as the carrier of the Columbus Orbiting Facility, the European lab on the International Space Station, when it is launched in early 2003.
