Symphony 1 in Les Mureaux

50 years ago, the December 18, 1974 launch of the Franco-German communications satellite Symphonie 1 marked a worldwide revolution: for the first time in history, a geostationary satellite used optimized propulsion, based on fully liquid fuel and oxidizer, as soon as it separated from the American Delta launcher. This architecture subsequently became the first major astronautical application. Symphonie was also Europe's first telecom satellite.

The spin-offs were also considerable. The ban on its commercial use, following the creation by the USA of the international Intelsat organization in 1964, and the failure of the Europa III launcher, convinced the Europeans to adopt in July 1973 the French proposal for a launcher ensuring Europe's autonomous access to space, the Europa III Class and Substitution Launcher (LIIIS), christened Ariane, which became for a long time the N°1 commercial space launcher. In fact, the signing of the Symphonie contract in 1970 had indirectly broken the deadlock even before its launch, with the appearance of national telecom satellites, the Canadian Anik as early as 1972 and the American Westar in 1974, launched by Delta because they were built in the USA. Today, a thousand international and national geostationary telecom platforms have been launched.

A second major Symphonie spin-off was the development of the Spacebus telecom platform, the historic first non-American commercial satellite exported in 1981, to the surprise of all, to the Arabsat consortium. This family is now the world's No. 2, with almost 100 sales, behind the Ford/Loral Maxar 1300 (140 sales).

This celebration of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Symphonie 1 will be an exceptional opportunity to meet some of the great pioneers of European space.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Michel Fiat (Chairman of CASP)

Patrick Bondoux (CASP)

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Philippe Jung (CASP, 06 81 08 46 79, philippe.jung10@gmail.com, 150 route de Pégomas-6A, 06130 Grasse)

10:30 Visit to Thales Alenia Space's Cannes facility (limited number), valid ID/passport required (please provide number, surname, first name, place & date of birth in advance).

12:00 possibility of a tourist-historical walk around the airport to the Cineum (1.5 km)

12:30 Lunch at the Cineum de Cannes (Chez Le Brasseur), individual payment

3:00 pm Commemoration begins (Michel Fiat)

15h10 The retreat of space : the beginning of space telecoms (Philippe Jung)

15h25 Genesis of Symphonie, world premiere. Symmetrization (Pierre Madon)

15h45 Symphonie 1st European telecom satellite. The 40th anniversary in Munich (Eckart Schober, Helmut Zewen)

4:10 pm Retrospective of the 1967/1984 program (Jean-Jacques Dechezelles)

4.45pm Break

17:00 Geostationary positioning (Jean-Marie Robert)

5:15 pm Extraordinary double heritage with Ariane and Spacebus (Pierre Madon, Philippe Jung)

5:45 p.m. Testimonials and discussion

6:00 pm Conclusion (Michel Fiat)

6:10 pm Cocktail reception

SITE

www.cannes-aero-patrimoine.net