Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift launch vehicle that is part of the Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system designed by the French government space agency Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES).

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ARIANE 5
FAILURE

2. Introduction
• Introduction to system
• Who owns (Country/Organization etc)
• When it was developed, cost
• What is the purpose?
• Explain disaster or failure
• Cost of failure
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INTRODUCTION
• Ariane 5 is a launch vehicle developed by
the European space agency.
• The maiden flight of Ariane 5 launcher
took place on 4th June 1996.
• 37 seconds into its ascent at an altitude of
3700m the launcher exploded.
• An enquiry board submitted its report on
the reasons of failure.

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WHO OWNS
• Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under
the authority of the European Space
Agency (ESA) and the French space
agency Centre National d'Etudes
Spatiales.

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7. When it was developed, cost
Ariane 5 is Launch took place june 4,1996
• The rocket was on its first voyage, after a
decade of development costing $7 billion.
• The destroyed rocket and its cargo were
valued at $500 million
•
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What is the purpose
• A board of inquiry investigated the causes of the
explosion and in two weeks issued a report.
• It turned out that the cause of the failure was a
software error in the inertial reference system.
• On 4 June 1996, the maiden flight of the Ariane
5 launcher ended in a failure.

9. YOU CAN GET IDEA FROM…
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• In general flight control system of the
Ariane 5 is of standard design.
• The attitude of the launcher and its
movements in space are measured by an
Inertial Reference system (SRI).
• SRI has its internal computer in which
angles and velocities are calculated.
Explain disaster or failure

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• The data from the SRI are transmitted
through data bus to on board computer.
• The on-board computer (OBC), executes
the flight program and controls the nozzles
of the solid boosters and the cryogenic
Vulcain engine, via servovalves and
hydraulic actuators.
• The design of the SRI used in Ariane 5 is
almost identical to that of Ariane 4
Explain disaster or failure

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• software specifications from the Ariane 4,
were reused in Ariane 5 but its flight path
was different and beyond the range for
which the code had been reused.
• The disintegration occurred due to
software exception of On board computer.
• The software exception was caused during
conversion of 64 bit floating point to 16 bit
signed integer value.
Explain disaster or failure

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• The disastrous launch cost approximately
$370m, led to a public inquiry, and through the
destruction of the rocket's payload, delayed
scientific research into workings of the Earth's
magnetosphere for almost 4 years.
• The Ariane 5 launch is widely acknowledged as
one of the most expensive software failures in
history
Cost of failure

14. Group Members
• T.Priyanka - TG/2017/277
• R.N.H Vitharana -TG/2017/254
• A.M.A.N Senavirathna -TG/2017/275
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15. Thank you
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