commercial policy was obviously well integrated with the French export strategy
that, similar to the US, was based on the country’s geopolitical influence and used
a solid worldwide marketing network to increase the volume of its commercial
exports in aerospace and defence.
In those years, the satellite telecommunications market grew significantly, to the
point that the number of worldwide operators rose up to more than 30,
15
with a total
space fleet of more than 200 satellites. The sector generated a global annual turnover
greater than $100 billion.
16
Today, more than a dozen countries have satellites, but
most of them still do not have the technology to build and launch them into orbit.
Let us now take a look at how social and political turmoil affected the Russian
space launcher industry and the domino effect across the globe. In 1989 after the
fall of the Berlin Wall, Russia plunged into chaos, such that the former Red Army
arsenal – including the space launchers Proton, Soyuz and Zenit – became a sort
of wholesale supermarket. Now, Ukrainians and Russians were separately selling
missile technology to China, India, Iran and Brazil. To counter this and also benefit from Russian technology, the US and France created joint ventures with the
former Soviet industries. Indeed, Lockheed Martin,
17
Boeing
18
and Arianespace
19
created subsidiaries to legally export and sell rockets from Russia or Ukraine, in
an attempt to somehow control the soviet missile technology dissemination.
When the Russian government had resettled, it soon started regulating the technology exports with strict measures. For instance, it increased restrictions on former satellite countries, such as Ukraine, which had inherited Soviet missile
production facilities on their territory. In 2003, Kiev signed an agreement with
Brazil to launch the Cyclon-4 rocket from Alcantara, a military base on the
Brazilian Atlantic coast.
20
Washington and Paris expressed political concerns,
since the new launch site would have been a few thousand miles from both Florida
and the Kourou space centre. The project was soon interrupted after a serious
accident onsite, whose causes are still unknown, that largely damaged the site and
killed many technicians.
21
International collaboration became increasingly difficult from that point forward,
and commercial competition tighter. The situation worsened for the Ariane launcher,
as the Russians and Americans started marketing several types of competitively
priced launchers. The Ariane 5, designed in the late eighties, has entered into service
at the end of the 1990’s. At the beginning of its lifetime, initial malfunctions delayed
15
http://spacenews.com/41157the-list-2013-top-fixed-satellite-service-operators/.
16
Satellite Industry Association. 2016. «State of Satellite industry».
17
http://www.ilslaunch.com/node/752.
18
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/sealaunch.html.
19
Lardier, Christian, and Stefan Barensky. 2010. Les deux vies de Soyuz, Edition e/Dite.
20
United Nations. Office for Outer Space Affairs. 2005. Disseminating and Developing
International and National Space Law: The Latin America and Caribbean Perspective:
Proceedings, United Nations/Brazil Workshop on Space Law. United Nations Publications, 93.
21
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/23/world/explosion-of-brazilian-rocket-during-a-testkills-at-least-16.html.
Rocket Science: Globalization and Missiles 29
that, similar to the US, was based on the country’s geopolitical influence and used
a solid worldwide marketing network to increase the volume of its commercial
exports in aerospace and defence.
In those years, the satellite telecommunications market grew significantly, to the
point that the number of worldwide operators rose up to more than 30,
15
with a total
space fleet of more than 200 satellites. The sector generated a global annual turnover
greater than $100 billion.
16
Today, more than a dozen countries have satellites, but
most of them still do not have the technology to build and launch them into orbit.
Let us now take a look at how social and political turmoil affected the Russian
space launcher industry and the domino effect across the globe. In 1989 after the
fall of the Berlin Wall, Russia plunged into chaos, such that the former Red Army
arsenal – including the space launchers Proton, Soyuz and Zenit – became a sort
of wholesale supermarket. Now, Ukrainians and Russians were separately selling
missile technology to China, India, Iran and Brazil. To counter this and also benefit from Russian technology, the US and France created joint ventures with the
former Soviet industries. Indeed, Lockheed Martin,
17
Boeing
18
and Arianespace
19
created subsidiaries to legally export and sell rockets from Russia or Ukraine, in
an attempt to somehow control the soviet missile technology dissemination.
When the Russian government had resettled, it soon started regulating the technology exports with strict measures. For instance, it increased restrictions on former satellite countries, such as Ukraine, which had inherited Soviet missile
production facilities on their territory. In 2003, Kiev signed an agreement with
Brazil to launch the Cyclon-4 rocket from Alcantara, a military base on the
Brazilian Atlantic coast.
20
Washington and Paris expressed political concerns,
since the new launch site would have been a few thousand miles from both Florida
and the Kourou space centre. The project was soon interrupted after a serious
accident onsite, whose causes are still unknown, that largely damaged the site and
killed many technicians.
21
International collaboration became increasingly difficult from that point forward,
and commercial competition tighter. The situation worsened for the Ariane launcher,
as the Russians and Americans started marketing several types of competitively
priced launchers. The Ariane 5, designed in the late eighties, has entered into service
at the end of the 1990’s. At the beginning of its lifetime, initial malfunctions delayed
15
http://spacenews.com/41157the-list-2013-top-fixed-satellite-service-operators/.
16
Satellite Industry Association. 2016. «State of Satellite industry».
17
http://www.ilslaunch.com/node/752.
18
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/sealaunch.html.
19
Lardier, Christian, and Stefan Barensky. 2010. Les deux vies de Soyuz, Edition e/Dite.
20
United Nations. Office for Outer Space Affairs. 2005. Disseminating and Developing
International and National Space Law: The Latin America and Caribbean Perspective:
Proceedings, United Nations/Brazil Workshop on Space Law. United Nations Publications, 93.
21
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/23/world/explosion-of-brazilian-rocket-during-a-testkills-at-least-16.html.
Rocket Science: Globalization and Missiles 29