Editing Ariane 5 (section)

== Launch pricing and market competition ==
{{asof|2014|11}}, the Ariane 5 commercial launch [[Price#Confusion between prices and costs of production|price]] for launching a "midsize satellite in the lower position" was approximately €50 million,<ref name=aw20140310>{{cite news|last=Svitak|first=Amy|title=SpaceX Says Falcon 9 To Compete For EELV This Year|url=http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_03_10_2014_p48-668592.xml|access-date=4 January 2015|publisher=Aviation Week|date=1 March 2014|quote=''Advertised at US$56.5 million per launch, Falcon 9 missions to GTO cost almost US$15 million less than a ride atop a Chinese Long March 3B and are competitive with the cost to launch a midsize satellite in the lower position on a European Ariane 5ECA''|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310123118/http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=%2Farticle-xml%2FAW_03_10_2014_p48-668592.xml|archive-date=10 March 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> competing for commercial launches in an increasingly [[Space launch market competition|competitive market]].

The heavier satellite was launched in the upper position on a typical dual-satellite Ariane 5 launch and was priced higher than the lower satellite,<ref name=sn20131125>{{cite news|last=de Selding|first=Peter B. |title=SpaceX Challenge Has Arianespace Rethinking Pricing Policies|url=http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/38331spacex-challenge-has-arianespace-rethinking-pricing-policies|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131127055319/http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/38331spacex-challenge-has-arianespace-rethinking-pricing-policies|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 November 2013|access-date=27 November 2013|publisher=SpaceNews|date=2 November 2013|quote=''The Arianespace commercial launch consortium is telling its customers it is open to reducing the cost of flights for lighter satellites on the Ariane 5 rocket in response to the challenge posed by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket''}}</ref>{{clarify|date=January 2015}}<!-- still need to find a source for the specifics on this; for now, just qualitatively "higher" --> on the order of €90 million {{asof|2013|lc=y}}.<ref name="bbc20131203">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25210742|title=SpaceX launches SES commercial TV satellite for Asia|last=Amos|first=Jonathan|date=3 December 2013|publisher=BBC News|access-date=4 January 2015|quote=''The commercial market for launching telecoms spacecraft is tightly contested, but has become dominated by just a few companies – notably, Europe's Arianespace, which flies the Ariane 5, and International Launch Services (ILS), which markets Russia's Proton vehicle. SpaceX is promising to substantially undercut the existing players on price, and SES, the world's second-largest telecoms satellite operator, believes the incumbents had better take note of the California company's capability. 'The entry of SpaceX into the commercial market is a game-changer''.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102045752/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25210742|archive-date=2 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=sn20150105/>

Total launch price of an Ariane 5 – which could transport up to two satellites to space, one in the "upper" and one in the "lower" positions – was around €150 million {{as of|2015|1|lc=on}}.<ref name=sn20150105>{{cite web|url=http://spacenews.com/with-eye-on-spacex-cnes-begins-work-on-reusable-rocket-stage/|title=With Eye on SpaceX, CNES Begins Work on Reusable Rocket Stage|publisher=SpaceNews|date=5 January 2015|access-date=6 January 2015}}</ref>