Regulus, a joint subsidiary of Fiat Avio (Italy) and HERAKLES (France), operates the Guiana Propellant Plant (UPG) and produces the S2 and S3 segments of solid propellant stages of ARIANE 5. The propellant is a mixture of an oxidizing element (ammonium perchlorate) and a reducing element (aluminum). The propellant is prepared by mixing high-capacity (11 tons) called mixers and cast in vacuo segments fitted with a central core. It is extracted after the curing of the propellant. Ten propellant tanks are required to complete a segment. The plant is characterized by its high level of automation. ARIANE 5 off mainly through its two solid rocket motors, each with a mass of 270 tons, which delivers a maximum thrust of 650 tons. They bring the launcher to 60 km altitude. The different processes in the UPG are distributed in forty buildings, containing all the necessary manufacturing and assembly of ARIANE 5 and VEGA boosters process, since the production of propellant from the raw materials, to the cast of it in clean booster. During the construction of the Guiana Propellant Plant in late 1980, the control system control facilities was focused on the implementation of an internal network connecting the various workshops and allowing UPG local orders (units) and /or from a central control station (Building 310). This process control was technologically obsolete and an Industrial consortium headed by the multinational engineering ‘TECHNIP’, together with ‘GTD’ won the contract for the 3 phase for the renovation of the process control electronics and software, and as well, for the central control & command center. This summer, the system has been installed and commissioned with full success, and now, it is operational. UPG is the ‘bottle neck’ for the Ariane5/Vega production facilities and it will be obviously expanded to double size when ARIANE 6 will be definitively approved by ESA Board. UPG is a very sensible zone because the ‘propellant danger’ and its manufacturing complexity as well.
