1980 headquarters courcouronnes france revenue 1.433 billion 2015 net income 4 million 2015 number of employees 321 1 website arianespace.com arianespace sa is a french multinational company founded in 1980 as the world s first commercial launch service provider . 2 it undertakes the production operation and marketing of the ariane programme . 3 the main launch vehicles offered by the company are the ariane 5 the soyuz 2 as a medium lift alternative and the vega as a lighter one . 4 as of 2008 update more than 240 commercial launches have occurred since may 22 1984 . arianespace states that the total number of launch contracts signed since ariane launches commenced operations in 1984 is 285 . 3 arianespace uses the centre spatial guyanais in french guiana as a launch site . it has its headquarters in courcouronnes essonne france 5 near vry . 6 on 21 october 2011 arianespace launched the first soyuz rocket ever from outside former soviet territory . the payload was two galileo navigation satellites . 7 contents 1 the company and its infrastructure 1.1 corporate management 1.1.1 offices 1.2 subsidiaries 2 competition and pricing 3 launch vehicles 3.1 ariane launch vehicles 4 ariane s cup 5 see also 6 references the company and its infrastructure edit arianespace primary shareholders are its suppliers in the various nations of the european union . 8 arianespace currently has 20 shareholders 9 country total share shareholder capital germany 19.85 % airbus safran launchers gmbh 11.59 % mt aerospace ag 8.26 % belgium 3.36 % sabca 2.71 % thales alenia space belgium 0.33 % techspace aero sa 0.32 % denmark christian rovsing a s spain 2.15 % airbus defence and space sau 2.04 % crisa 0.11 % france 64.10 % arianespace participation cnes 34.68 % airbus safran launchers holding 27.42 % air liquide sa 1.89 % clemessy 0.11 % cie deutsche italy 3.38 % avio s.p.a. 3.38 % netherlands 1.94 % airbus defence and space b.v. 1.94 % norway 0.11 % kongsberg defence & aerospace as 0.11 % sweden 2.45 % ruag space ab 0.82 % gkn aerospace sweden ab 1.63 % switzerland 2.67 % ruag schweiz ag 2.67 % arianespace shareholding is currently being restructured with the creation of an airbus safran joint venture that will develop and manufacture the ariane 6 launcher . their subsidiaries shareholdings will be pooled along with the purchase of the french governments cnes stake . airbus safran once the restructure is complete will have a 76 % shareholding while the remaining 24 % will be spread across ten countries . 10 corporate management edit position name 11 ceo & chairman st phane isra l senior vice president programs louis laurent senior vice president sales & customers jacques breton senior vice president chief financial officer thomas hundt vice president corporate communication isabelle veillon offices edit location of office head of branch french guiana patrick loire usa clayton mowry japan kiyoshi takamatsu singapore richard bowles subsidiaries edit arianespace inc. u.s. subsidiary arianespace singapore pte ltd. asian subsidiary starsem s.a. european russian soyuz commercialization competition and pricing edit main article space launch market competition in 2004 arianespace held more than 50 percent of the world market for boosting satellites to geostationary transfer orbit gto . 12 the disruptive force represented by new sector entrant spacex forced arianespace to cut workforce and focus on cost cutting to decrease costs to remain competitive against the new low cost entrant in the launch sector . according to an arianespace managing director it s quite clear there s a very significant challenge coming from spacex he said . therefore things have to change and the whole european industry is being restructured consolidated rationalised and streamlined . 13 in the midst of pricing pressure from u.s. company spacex arianespace made a november 2013 announcement of pricing flexibility for the lighter satellites it carries to geostationary orbits aboard its ariane 5 . 14 in early 2014 arianespace requested additional subsidies from european governments to face the competition from spacex and unfavorable changes in the euro dollar exchange rate . 15 reducing pricing allowed arianespace to sign four additional contracts in september 2014 for a lower slots on an ariane 5 sylda dispenser for the satellites that otherwise could be flown on spacex launch vehicle . overall arianespace signed 11 contracts in 2014 until september with two additional being in a late stage of negotiations . as of september 2014 update arianespace has a backlog of launches worth 4.5 billion with 38 satellites to be launched on ariane 5 7 on soyuz and 9 on vega claiming 60 % of the global satellite launch market . 16 17 18 by november 2014 spacex had already begun to take market share 8 from arianespace and eutelsat ceo michel de rosen a major customer of arianespace said that each year that passes will see spacex advance gain market share and further reduce its costs through economies of scale . 8 launch vehicles edit currently arianespace operates 3 launch vehicles including two versions of ariane 5 name payload to leo including sso payload to gto vega 1 450 kilograms 3 200 lb soyuz 4 400 kilograms 9 700 lb 3 250 kilograms 7 170 lb ariane 5 eca 10 500 kilograms 23 100 lb ariane 5 es 21 000 kilograms 46 000 lb additionally arianespace offers optional back up launch service on h iia through launch services alliance . 19 ariane launch vehicles edit main article ariane rocket family since the first launch in 1979 there have been several versions of the ariane launch vehicle ariane 1 first successful launch on december 24 1979 ariane 2 first successful launch on november 20 1987 the first launch on may 30 1986 failed ariane 3 first successful launch on august 4 1984 ariane 4 first successful launch on june 15 1988 ariane 5 first successful launch on october 30 1997 the first launch on june 4 1996 failed . new ariane 6 vehicle is in development . it would be payload wise in league of ariane 5 and has tentatively its first test flight in 2020 as of 2016 . ariane s cup edit the ariane s cup is a sailing competition organized on behalf of the industrials participating in the ariane programme . see also edit spaceflight portal paris portal companies portal europa rocket launch services alliance references edit 2014 annual report pdf report . courcouronnes france arianespace . 15 june 2015 . retrieved 6 august 2015 . jaeger ralph w. ; claudon jean louis may 1986 . ariane the first commercial space transportation system . proceedings of the 15th international symposium on space technology and science . tokyo japan agne publishing inc. published 1986 . bibcode 1986spte . conf .1431 j. a87 32276 13 12 . retrieved 2008 03 07 . a b arianespace was founded in 1980 as the world s first launch services and solutions company . . arianespace.com . archived from the original on february 18 2008 . retrieved 2008 03 07 . service & solutions . arianespace.com . archived from the original on 12 february 2011 . retrieved 2011 02 15 . russians french sign space contract . upi science report . united press international . 12 april 2005 . retrieved on 24 september 2009 . contact us . arianespace . retrieved on 24 september 2009 . arianespace launches first european soyuz . interspacenews.com . retrieved 2011 12 17 . a b c de selding peter b. 2014 11 20 . europe s satellite operators urge swift development of ariane 6 . spacenews . retrieved 2014 11 21 . france based arianespace has responded by squeezing to a limited degree its supplier base . but ariane 5 builders are also arianespace shareholders limiting the company s leverage on them . shareholders . arianespace . retrieved 9 september 2014 . http www.satellitetoday.com launch 2015 06 16 airbus safran launchers gains cnes 35 percent stake in arianespace management team . arianespace . retrieved 8 september 2014 . john mccormick 2004 . the european union 3rd ed . . westview press . p. 273 . isbn 978 0 8133 4202 3 . david ramli 19 may 2015 . nbn launcher arianespace to cut jobs and costs to fight spacex . the sydney morning herald australia . de selding peter b. 2013 11 25 . spacex challenge has arianespace rethinking pricing policies . space news . retrieved 2013 11 27 . the arianespace commercial launch consortium is telling its customers it is open to reducing the cost of flights for lighter satellites on the ariane 5 rocket in response to the challenge posed by spacex s falcon 9 rocket . svitak amy 2014 02 11 . arianespace to esa we need help . aviation week . retrieved 2014 02 12 . arianespace nets four commercial launch contracts . 8 september 2014 . retrieved 9 september 2014 . world satellite business week 2014 a rich harvest of contracts for arianespace press release . 8 september 2014 . retrieved 9 september 2014 . europe s arianespace claims 60 % of the commercial launch market . 9 september 2014 . retrieved 9 september 2014 . mitsubishi heavy industries and arianespace conclude mou on cooperation in commercial space rocket launches . arianespace . 7 june 2013 . retrieved 18 august 2014 . v t e european space agency spaceports guiana space centre esrange launch vehicles ariane 5 arianespace soyuz vega facilities esoc estec esrin eac esac ecsat cdf st ecf communications estrack european data relay system programmes aurora copernicus sentinel cosmic vision egnos elips exomars flpp galileo lpp space situational awareness programme predecessors eldo esro related topics arianespace esa television eumetsat european space camp gewex planetary science archive projects and missions science solar physics european space research organisation isee 2 1977 1987 ulysses 1990 2009 soho 1995 present cluster ii 2000 present solar orbiter 2017 planetary science giotto 1985 92 huygens 1997 2005 smart 1 2003 06 mars express 2003 present rosetta philae 2004 2016 venus express 2005 2014 exomars trace gas orbiter 2016 present bepicolombo 2017 exomars rover 2020 jupiter icy moon explorer 2022 astronomy and cosmology cos b 1975 82 iue 1978 96 exosat 1983 86 hipparcos 1989 93 hubble 1990 present eureca 1992 93 iso 1995 98 xmm newton 1999 present integral 2002 present corot 2006 13 planck 2009 13 herschel 2009 13 gaia 2013 present cheops 2017 james webb 2018 euclid 2020 plato 2024 athena 2028 elisa 2034 earth observation meteosat first generation 1977 97 ers 1 1991 2000 ers 2 1995 2011 meteosat second generation 2002 present envisat 2002 12 double star 2003 07 metop 2006 present goce 2009 13 smos 2009 present cryosat 2 2010 present swarm 2013 present sentinel 1 1a 1b 2014 present sentinel 2 2a 2015 present sentinel 3 3a 2016 present sentinel 5 precursor 2016 meteosat third generation sentinel 4 2017 adm aeolus 2017 earthcare 2018 metop sg a 2021 smile 2021 metop sg b 2022 flex 2022 iss spaceflight iss contribution 1998 present columbus 2008 present jules verne 2008 cupola 2010 present johannes kepler 2011 edoardo amaldi 2012 albert einstein 2013 georges lema tre 2014 european robotic arm 2017 telecommunications geos 2 1978 olympus 1 1989 1993 artemis 2001 present giove a 2005 present giove b 2008 present hylas 1 2010 present galileo iov 2011 present galileo foc 2014 present european data relay system 2016 present technology demonstrators ard 1998 proba 2001 present yes2 2007 proba2 2009 present proba v 2013 present ixv 2015 lisa pathfinder 2015 present ops sat 2017 proba 3 2018 lunar lander 2018 aida 2020 cancelled and proposed columbus man tended free flyer csts darwin mission don quijote e.deorbit echo eddington expert hermes hopper loft luna 27 marco polo marcopolo r mars sample return mission odinus pride spica ste quest failed cluster cryosat 1 geos 1 future missions in italics category commons wikinews wikiproject v t e ariane rockets main articles ariane family arianespace a rospatiale airbus defence and space snecma european space