History of Spanish Contributions to Astronautics: The History of the Ariane Launcher in Spain

This paper deals with the history of Ariane launcher development and production in Spain. Although Spain did not join the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) in the 1960s, the proposal by France in the early 1970s to Europeanize the L3S project-afterward named Ariane-soon raised great interest in Spain, resulting in a small initial participation in the launcher development. That is the origin of the Ariane program in Spain. The paper has many details gathered by people who actually participated in the program or makes reference to fully documented events. The author explains the first related activities in COPERS and the evolution toward the creation of the European Space Agency (ESA), in which Spain was an original Member State. Before entering in the details of the industrial participation, the main part of the document, there is a description of the political framework. It is contained in the document "Spain and the Agreement-Declaration of the Ariane Program" which defines the legal rules to start working in launcher development and subsequent production. After a short description of the Ariane launcher, the paper presents the origin and the role of Arianespace. Then, the document describes in detail the Spanish industrial content in the various models of the launcher, explaining the evolution from Ariane 1 to Ariane 5 and the associated boost of the technology development, as, for instance, the change from aluminum to composites fiber placement. The associated ground hardware and services are also part of the Spanish participation. There is also a reference to the growing Spanish contribution to the program and a view toward the future in a competitive world as is the launch services.