No Government Subsidy for Ariane, Chief Says
The head of the French company that markets Ariane rocket services says his company has had to shave its satellite launch prices for some customers in order to compete with America’s space shuttle.
However, Charles Bigot, director general of Arianespace, vehemently denies claims by some U.S. space officials that Ariane’s costs are government-subsidized.
“I am the boss of Ariane and I can say to you that I receive absolutely no subsidization,” Bigot said at the Guiana Space Center. “I don’t receive any money from any government.”
Bigot acknowledged that his company has lowered launch costs for non-European satellite owners to win business away from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“If we go to the external market, we are facing the competition of the shuttle,” he said. “Because of that, we have been obliged very often to reduce the price compared with the European price in order to compete.
“Of course, we are not able to do that everywhere. We have done that for a small number of customers because we wanted to stay in the market.”
Price Rise Coming
He said if NASA raises its prices, as it is expected to do soon, Arianespace probably will increase its launch prices.
“We need to have a higher price in order to balance our accounts,” he said. “We said very clearly that if the shuttle is increasing their price, we will also increase our price, (but) maybe not in the same proportion.”
Bigot said Ariane’s prices for launching commercial communications satellites--now ranging between $25 million and $30 million--do not attempt to recover the initial investment in developing the rocket or its launch facilities. But neither does NASA attempt to recover the development costs of the space shuttle.
“I can say to you that now we pay a large amount of the launch expenses and I am sure if we have to negotiate the same thing at Cape Canaveral we would probably obtain the same figures,” Bigot said.
“We also support all the expenses related to the launch pad. Of course, we support all the costs of manufacture of the launcher, all the cost of the commercial activity.”
