Posted: Wed, May 28, 2003, 6:54 AM ET (1054 GMT)
The European Space Agency approved plans Tuesday to revitalize the Ariane 5 launch vehicle program and press ahead with the Rosetta comet missions. Ministers from ESA's 15 member nations met in Paris Tuesday and gave their approval to a plan to requalify the 10-tonne version of the Ariane 5, the Ariane 5 ECA. ESA will pay for a demonstration flight of the Ariane 5 ECA in March 2004 as well as a September 2004 launch of an Ariane 5 ES, which uses the first stage of the Ariane 5 ECA but the upper stage of the generic version; that flight will carry the first Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo spacecraft for the ISS. The plan approved Tuesday also includes a reorganization of launch activities, placing the design, development, and manufacture of Ariane boosters in the hands of a single company, EADS, with Arianespace responsible for marketing the booster. Ministers also approved plans to build facilities in Kourou to support launches of Soyuz boosters beginning in 2006, as well as developing long-term programs to promote European use of the Ariane 5. Total cost of these launch vehicle programs is forecast to exceed one billion euros (US$1.2 billion). Ministers also signed off on plans to launch Rosetta next February on a mission to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Those plans were threatened by a funding crunch within ESA's science program; miniters said in a statement that the problem will be solved by an unspecified "approval of financial flexibility at Agency level."

Related Links:

•  ESA press release
•  AFP article
•  Reuters article
•  BBC article
•  Dow Jones article