"DISAPPOINTED, but these things happen," was the reaction of one of two Irish companies involved with Ariane-5 as news filtered through from French Guiana.
Only last week, Mr Ciaran Mulhall, managing director of Devtec, had cited the rocket as a fine example of the benefits of Irish membership of the European Space Agency (ESA). Yesterday, Mr Mulhall was among those on the ESA guest list in Kourou.
Up to 10 Irish companies have worked on previous Ariane projects, but only a couple including Devtec in Dublin and Moog Ltd in Cork were involved this time round. Devtec, the former Aer Lingus aerospace design and manufacturing company, is a shareholder in the project, along with the Meath based company, Adtec Teo.
It made the engine supports for the cryogenic Vulcain engine, propelling a more powerful launcher than the Ariane 4 model.
The high strength precision mechanisms were provided on a £3 million sub contract to the French company, Societe Europeene de Propulsion (SEP), which built the Vulcain engine. The supports boasted a five millionths of a metre tolerance, designed for a "very hostile environment".
Now 50 per cent owned by the US company, Marotta Scientifie Controls, Devtec supplied components for the first 16 flights of Ariane 5 and expected to receive a further order worth £7 to £8 million if this flight was successful. It employs 25 people in its factory in north Dublin.
Irish companies sub-contracted in turn to Devtec on the manufacturing side included Belurgan Precision of Louth, Fenelon Precision Engineering in Longford. Hitol in Waterford, Strucom in Dublin and MCS in Galway.
"We regard it as a slight set back," Mr Bryan Reid, marketing manager for Devtec told The Irish Times. "This was only a test flight, and the second flight is due in four months' time. We are hopeful ... and still making the parts. Mr Reid recalled how another space project which with Devtec had links also had a mishap this year. An Italian satellite tethered to the space rocket, Columbia, was lost in space at a cost of $440 million. Mission managers blamed a tiny meteorite for breaking the 12.5 mile "leash".
The Ringaskiddy company, Moog Ltd, had links at an early stage of the Ariane 5 project. "Our stuff doesn't fly," its general manager, Mr Tom Moriarty, confirmed yesterday. Moog test equipment was used by the French company, SEP, for trials on the new Vulcain engines. The equipment was to ensure the correct proportion of oxygen and hydrogen in the fuel mixture.
. In Britain, 200 researchers watching for their satellites to be launched into space by the rocket were in a state of shock. "There was a stunned silence for about a minute. No one spoke. You could have heard a pin drop. Just total disbelief," Mr Trevor Edwards, of the programme at Leicester University, said.
