Astérix and Diamant – France in Space


Astérix (A-1) satellite being readied for launch, mounted on top of the Diamant’s third stage
 

Astérix (initially designated A-1), the first French satellite, was launched on November 26, 1965, at 14:47:21 UT, on the maiden flight of a Diamant A launch vehicle from the French ballistic missile test site at Hammaguir, Algeria. With this launch, France became the sixth country to have a satellite in orbit and only the third, after the USSR and United States, to launch a satellite on its own launch vehicle (previously, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Italy had launched their satellites using American rockets).

   Astérix was a small, double-cone shaped satellite, 0.53 m in diameter, with a mass of 42 kilograms. Its exterior casing was made of fiberglass with black stripes for passive thermal control. It was equipped with accelerometers, a radio beacon, radar transponder, thermometer, and telemetry transmitters. 

   The satellite entered orbit with a perigee 527 km, an apogee 1,697 km, an inclination 34.3° and an orbital period of 107.5 minutes.  Battery powered, A-1 was expected to transmit for about 10 days, but although the launch was successful, the signals from the satellite quickly faded, possibly due to damage to its antennae caused by part of the protective nosecone hitting the satellite as it fell away. Depending on the source, the satellite stopped transmitting after two days or failed to transmit altogether.

    The satellite was originally designated A-1, as the French Army's first satellite, but later renamed by the press after popular French comics character Astérix. Two prototypes were launched on suborbital Rubis rockets on May 31 and June 3, 1965, before the orbital attempt was made. The main purpose was evaluation of the Diamant-A launch vehicle, but the on board transmitter was to be used for ionospheric measurements. The satellite will remain in orbit for several centuries.

Astérix satellite mounted on top of the Diamant A launch vehicle. Credit: CNES

   French President General Charles de Gaulle wanted France to be independent in terms of ballistic missiles and nuclear power. In 1959, the French government established the Comité de Recherches Spatiales (CRS), which would later be renamed as the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES). The organisation's primary goal was to pursue the development of an indigenous expendable launch system, which was named Diamant. Its design was based upon French military ballistic missiles.

  Three successive versions of the Diamant rocket were developed, designated A, B and BP4. All versions had three stages and a payload of approximately 150 kg for a 200 km orbit. The Diamant A launcher measured 18.95 metres high and weighed 18.4 metric tons. The rocket's first stage had a liquid propellant engine and was filled with a mix of turpentine and nitric acid fuel. The second and third stages had solid propellant engines. 

   Diamant A was operational between 1965 and 1967. The rocket performed four launches from the ballistic missile test site at Hammaguir, Algeria. Three launches were fully successful, the only failure occurring on the third launch when the payload was inserted into a lower orbit than planned. The last launch of the Diamant rocket (version BP4) took place on September 27, 1975, from Kourou in French Guiana. France decided to discontinue further launches using Diamant in favour of the newer Ariane family of European launch vehicles.

Diamant A rocket lifts off successfully on its maiden flight, carrying the A-1 satellite

 

© 2025, Andrew Mirecki 

 

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