ArianeGroup – Europe’s Threshold to Space

As the world market leader in space transportation, ArianeGroup not only serves institutional and commercial customers, but also guarantees Europe's strategic independence in space.

© ArianeGroup Holding / Master Image
ArianeGroup uses the latest development methods.

ArianeGroup is the prime contractor for Europe's Ariane launch vehicles for space travel. The company manages launch vehicles throughout their entire life cycle – from design and development through production to utilization and marketing by its subsidiary Arianespace. It also manufactures and operates Ariane 5, the most reliable commercial launch vehicle on the market, and is managing the development and design of the future Ariane 6.

ArianeGroup was founded by the Airbus and Safran groups in an effort to lead European space industry to new heights. It is owned equally by the two groups and combines all their activities and competencies in the field of civil and military launch vehicles. ArianeGroup consists of eleven subsidiaries and majority holdings, with more than 7,000 highly qualified employees in Germany and France. While it was only founded in 2016, its origins date back 70 years in the history of European spaceflight. The company’s broad European positioning places an emphasis on simplifying and streamlining engineering processes using the results of many years of research and state-of-the-art development tools and processes, such as the digital modeling tool for simultaneous engineering. This is complemented by new, more efficient, value-adding organizational concepts and operating principles. This is why the company is also focusing on manufacturing technologies and digitization: using virtual reality to increase the efficiency of production facilities, accelerating development and subsequent manufacturing through the use of 3D printing, and digitizing all areas and data throughout the entire life cycle. Click here to find out more about the key role of digitization in contributing to the sustainable development of the space industry.