Ambitious New Programs Planned : French Push Europeans for Independence in Space

A little more than 10 years ago, the European space program was in shambles. The project to build the satellite launcher Europa had just been abandoned after the rocket failed in test after test. Some Europeans wanted to give up on space altogether. At most, many put their hopes on working as a junior partner in U.S. space programs.

But French officials, insisting that Europe must have a space program independent of the United States, persuaded the other Western Europeans to try once more to develop a European satellite launcher and promised that France would pay most of the cost.

The Ariane rocket came out of all the French cajoling, a launcher whose performance has matched French promises. As a result, Western Europe, especially France, now plays a significant role in space. Last year, Ariane took 40% of the world’s business in launching communications satellites, and Ariane now has firm orders for 30 launchings and options for 12 more in contracts worth almost $800 million.

Sensing an expanding commercial potential in space, the 11 countries that make up the European Space Agency agreed this year on new programs for the future, mainly development of a new and more powerful Ariane rocket. The agency also has accepted President Reagan’s invitation to take part in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s program for a space station.

But, as before, France would like Western Europe to show even more independence and develop a small, manned space shuttle of its own, called Hermes, at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion. The other European countries are lukewarm, accepting the idea in principle but refusing to spend any money on it.

Frederic d’Allest, the director general of the French space program, told foreign journalists recently that France would go ahead with the Hermes project anyway as part of its policy of trying to make Europe independent of the United States in space.

“For France,” d’Allest said, “autonomy in space is not negotiable.”

Avoid Manned Flights

Hermes, if it is developed, would mark a new step for Europe, because all past European projects have avoided using astronauts. The Europeans regarded the NASA manned flights as too expensive, wasteful and showy for them to emulate. Europe has produced a few astronauts, but they flew on American and Soviet missions. The French, however, now insist that the time has come for manned flights in a European shuttle.

Future policy for Europe in space was set at the end of January during a meeting of ministers from the 11 countries that belong to the European Space Agency: France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The meeting was held because the governments believed that they had to come up with some kind of reply to Reagan’s invitation to take part in the U.S. space station program.

The ministers agreed to spend $2.6 billion through 1995 on the Columbus, a module that would fit into the American space station and could be used to carry out experiments or commercial processes.

Difficult Negotiations

But, before signing any agreement with the United States, the European Space Agency expects some long, difficult negotiations with NASA. At issue will be the European share of the space station cost, the right to compete with U.S. companies for space station contracts and the right to benefit from research and technological development aboard the station.

Partnership with the United States would not be a new departure for the Europeans. Even when the Europeans agreed in 1973 to accept the French idea of building the independent satellite launcher Ariane, they also accepted the German idea of cooperating with the United States by constructing a laboratory module called Spacelab for the U.S. space shuttle.

The European Spacelab, carried into space by the U.S. shuttle Columbia in late 1983, conducted 70 experiments in astronomy, physics and other sciences. Another Spacelab flight aboard the shuttle is scheduled for next week.

As envisioned now, the Columbus would be a module fitting into the U.S. space station. But, perhaps to satisfy the continual French pressure for European autonomy, the European Space Agency also says that it hopes that the Columbus can be transformed some day into an independent European space station.

Plan New Launcher

At the Rome meeting, the ministers also committed $2.6 billion for the development by 1995 of what the agency called the Ariane 5 launcher. The European Space Agency has used three versions of the Ariane, each larger than the one before, and is about ready to employ an even larger fourth version. But experts say that the Ariane 5 will not simply be a larger version of the earlier Arianes but a completely different type of rocket, with a new, powerful engine, ultimately capable of lifting a Hermes shuttle into orbit.

For France, the logic of these decisions points to building Hermes. French officials put the situation this way: If Europe has a Columbus-type space station in space some day and a launcher powerful enough to send a shuttle there, then Europe ought to become truly independent by developing such a shuttle. The French say that the Hermes shuttle, which could carry five astronauts for 30 days, would fill the gap.

The rest of Western Europe, however, is not ready to spend the kind of money needed for that project. At the Rome meeting, the ministers said they noted the French Hermes project “with interest” and invited France to keep the European Space Agency informed of the research. In a rather vague and general way, the ministers said they intended to include the Hermes in the agency’s programs some day.

French in Charge

There is little doubt that the success of the European space program so far owes much to French technology and commitment. Because France put up almost two-thirds of the $962-million cost of developing Ariane, the European Space Agency assigned the French space agency, known as the National Center for Space Studies, to direct the project. Many analysts believe that the earlier Europa project failed because no single agency was clearly in charge of it.

The French engineers were helped by the French government attitude toward space. French politicians and officials continually proclaim that France must move boldly in the age of space and high technology, not just by taking part in it but by ranking among the leaders of the world. This attitude is backed by an annual space budget topping $500 million.

On top of this, as a NASA official who watches European programs put it recently: “The French bureaucratic hierarchy is ideal for running a space program.” He said that the French bureaucracy is run by directors on top who manage all aspects of a program, feel at ease doing long-range planning and have enough clout to pry the needed resources out of the government. All these traits, in the American official’s view, ensure good management of a space program.

Won Early Contracts

The successful Ariane program was helped by a bit of luck. The U.S. space shuttle program fell about two years behind schedule, giving Ariane a good chance to win early contracts for the launching of communications satellites.

A spokesman for Arianespace, the company that makes the Ariane, estimates that the average price for a launch by the Ariane is $24 million compared to $18 million by the shuttle. But NASA officials concede that rising costs will soon force a shuttle price increase in the range of 60% to 80%.

The Ariane has the advantage of being fired from a special space center in French Guiana near the Equator in South America, thus benefiting from additional acceleration provided by the Earth’s rotation. This enables the Ariane to put into orbit a payload 17% heavier than an equivalent launcher at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Although there appears to be a good deal of reluctance in Europe to support the French idea of moving from the simple Ariane program to the more spectacular field of rocketing shuttles with astronauts aboard into space, few analysts dismiss the French proposals as a lost cause.

More Government Support

The French space program, in fact, has even more governmental support than before. President Francois Mitterrand has long been regarded as committed to French modernization and high technology. On top of this, Premier Laurent Fabius, who took office last year, was the former minister of industry and technology in charge of the space program. The new minister of technology is Hubert Curien, a scientist who directed the National Center for Space Studies while it developed the Ariane.

This kind of commitment helps power the French leadership in space in Europe. “The French have been able to call the tune of what Europe does in space,” said the NASA official admiringly, “by persuading, cajoling, bulldozing.

“The French are going to get their Hermes,” he predicted, “and they are going to get it as a European program.”