The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
An overview of the Ariane launch vehicles in or projected to be in development for 1980-90, as published in the ESA Bulletin, February 1980. At this time, the very first and then-only Ariane (Ariane 1) launch had taken place only a few months earlier, in December 1979. This diagram was published under an article discussing several future space projects for Europe, and notes: "There are two competing technologies under consideration for performing the transfer between the low Earth and geosynchronous orbits, namely advanced chemical and electric-propulsion systems. The former have the advantage of employing more conventional technology and allowing shorter transfer times, whereas the latter require orders of magnitude less propellant but involve long mission times. The chemical systems could profit from the continued development of Ariane's upper stages. The feasibility and system compatibility of the electric-propulsion approach for [Satellite Power Systems] purposes are still unproven. Some development work on ion-thrusters and magnetoplasmadynamlc propulsion systems operating with inert gases (xenon, argon) is going on in Germany. Early performance tests in space could quantify their potential for orbit-raising and transfer applications on unmanned vehicles."