Arianespace has ordered 18 extra giant Ariane ECA launch rockets from Astrium-EADS. These are extra to the 35 rockets ordered back in 2009. Deliveries of the new order, worth more than €2 billion, are scheduled to commence in 2017.

The new rockets will be used to launch to orbit geostationary satellites and European Space Agency missions.

Stephane Israel, Arianespace’s CEO, signed the order contract with Francois Auque, CEO of Astrium at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana on Saturday Dev 14.

The new contract brings the number of Ariane launchers under construction or in the order cycle to 38, and should be sufficient to guarantee launch services from Kourou until the end of this decade.

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