Centre spatial guyanais | |
Panoramic view of Guiana Space Centre | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | 14 April 1964 |
Jurisdiction | Government of France |
Headquarters | Kourou, French Guiana, France |
Employees | 1,700 direct (2020) 7,500 indirect (2011) |
Agency executive |
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Parent agency | ESA/EUSPA/CNES |
Website | www |
Map | |
Detailed map |
Coordinates | 5°10′08″N52°41′25″W / 5.169°N 52.6903°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Operator | Arianespace, ESA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total launches | 320 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Launch pad(s) | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Launch history | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Active | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
First launch | 10 March 1970 Diamant B / Mika, Wika | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last launch | 9 October 2023 Vega (rocket) / THEOS-2, TRITON & Othres | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Guiana Space Centre (French: Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, [3] [4] is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximately 310 mi (500 km) north of the equator at a latitude of 5°. In operation since 1968, it is a suitable location for a spaceport because of its equatorial location and open sea to the east.
The European Space Agency (ESA), the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), the French space agency CNES (National Centre for Space Studies), the Space Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azercosmos) and the commercial company Arianespace conduct launches from Kourou. [5] [6] [7] It was used by the ESA to send supplies to the International Space Station using the Automated Transfer Vehicle.
In 1964, Guiana was selected to become the spaceport of France, [8] [9] replacing France's first launch site Centre interarmées d'essais d'engins spéciaux in Hammaguir, Algeria. [10] In 1975, France offered to share Kourou with the ESA, with ESA covering today two thirds of Guiana Space Centre's budget. [8] [9] Commercial launches are also bought by non-European companies. ESA pays two-thirds of the spaceport's annual budget and has also financed the upgrades made during the development of the Ariane launchers.
On 4 April 2017, the center was occupied by 30 labour unions and indigenous peoples leaders in the midst of the 2017 social unrest in French Guiana, but was taken back on 24 April 2017. [11]
The location of the space centre was selected based on various factors. One of the primary benefits of this spaceport is its proximity to the equator, which makes it more efficient, requiring substantially less energy, to launch spacecraft into an near-equatorial, geostationary orbit compared to launching from spaceports at higher latitudes.
Additionally, the centre's location adjacent to the open sea to the east reduces the potential risk of rocket stages and debris from launch failures falling on or near human settlements, which enhances safety during spaceflight activities.
Furthermore, rockets typically launch towards the east to take advantage of Earth's rotation and the angular momentum it provides. The near-equatorial location of the Guiana Space Centre offers an advantage for launches to low-inclination or geostationary Earth orbits, as rockets can be launched into orbits with an inclination of as low as 6°. In contrast, a rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with a latitude of 28.5°, can only be launched to an inclination of 28.5°, requiring a significant amount of propellant to change the inclination.
The location of the Guiana Space Centre provides benefits for launching spacecraft into low-inclination or geostationary Earth orbits. Rockets of similar size to those used at other spaceports to place satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), such as the Proton and Ariane 5 rockets, can send similar payloads to a low Earth orbit (LEO). For example, the Proton rocket, launched from high latitudes in Russia, can only send 6,270 kg to GTO, while the Kourou-launched Ariane 5 can send more than 10,000 kg to GTO. [12] [13]
Originally built in the 1960s under the name of Base Équatoriale du CECLES (English: ELDO Equatorial Base), the pad located at 5°14′10″N52°46′30″W / 5.236°N 52.775°W was designed for the Europa-II launch vehicle. One Europa-II was launched from the site in 1971, which ended in failure due to a guidance problem, before the program was cancelled. [14]
The pad at Giunana was demolished and subsequently rebuilt as the first launch complex for Ariane as ELA (Ensemble de Lancement Ariane). Redesignated later as ELA-1, it was used for Ariane 1 and Ariane 2 and 3 launches until being retired in 1989. [15]
In November 2001, it was refurbished again for the Vega rocket and renamed ELV (Ensemble de Lancement Vega). The first launch was on 13 February 2012. [16]
The ELA-2 pad (Ensemble de Lancement Ariane-2), located at 5°13′55″N52°46′34″W / 5.232°N 52.776°W , built in 1986, had been used for Ariane 4 launches from 1988 until 2003. Before 1988, although purpose-built for Ariane 4, the pad hosted an Ariane-2 and two Ariane-3 launches. The complex consisted of two areas: the launcher preparation zone and the launch pad, separated by one kilometre, allowing a launcher to be assembled in the preparation zone while another launch from the pad. A mobile service tower at the launch pad provided a protected environment for payload installation and final preparation of the rocket. [17] Following the retirement of the Ariane 4 in favor of the Ariane 5, In September 2011, the pad's service tower was demolished using explosives. [18]
ELA-3 (Ensemble de Lancement Ariane-3) has been active, launching Ariane 5 rockets since 1996. This facility is located at 5°14′20″N52°46′05″W / 5.239°N 52.768°W and covers an area of 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi). [19]
ELA4 is located along the Route de l'Espace in the Roche Christine site at 5°15′45″N52°47′27″W / 5.26258°N 52.79074°W , between ELA-3 and ELS launch facilities. CNES was responsible for the construction of the Ariane 6 ground segments including the new launch pad. Earthworks on the 150 hectare launch site began at the end of June 2015 and was completed at the start of 2016. Four platforms were levelled to accommodate the launch pad, the liquid oxygen and hydrogen tanks and the assembly building. Civil engineering works on the flame trench and other buildings began in the summer of 2016 and ended in 2019. [20] [21] The new launch facility was inaugurated on 28 September 2021 with first flight of the Ariane 6 scheduled in 2024. [22]
ESA has built ELS (Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz) at 5°18′18″N52°50′02″W / 5.305°N 52.834°W for launching Russian-built Soyuz-2 rockets. The first Soyuz launch from ELS was postponed several times, but launched on 21 October 2011. [23]
ELS is located on the territory of Sinnamary commune, 27 km (17 mi) from Kourou harbor. [24] It is 10 km (6.2 mi) northwest of the site used for the Ariane 5 launches. Under the terms of the Russo-European joint venture, ESA will augment its own launch vehicle fleet with Soyuz rockets – using them to launch ESA or commercial payloads – and the Russians will get access to the Kourou spaceport for launching their own payloads with Soyuz rockets. Russia will use the Guiana Space Centre in addition to Baikonur Cosmodrome. The Guiana location has the significant benefit of greatly increased payload capability, owing to the near equatorial position. A Soyuz rocket with a 1.7 tones to geostationary transfer orbit performance from Baikonur will increase its payload potential to 2.8 tones from the Guiana launch site. [25]
The ELS project is being co-funded by Arianespace, ESA, and the European Union, with CNES being the prime contractor. The project has a projected cost of approximately €320 million, where €120 million are allocated for modernizing the Soyuz vehicle. [26] The official opening of the launch site construction occurred on 27 February 2007.
On 13 September 2010, Spaceflight Now reported that after several delays in the construction of a mobile gantry the launch pad had been finished, and the first flight of the Soyuz was expected to occur in early 2011. [27] By October 2010, 18 launch contracts were signed. Arianespace has ordered 24 launchers from Russian industry. [28]
On 21 October 2011, two Galileo IOV-1 and IOV-2 satellites were launched using a Soyuz-ST rocket, in the "first Russian Soyuz vehicle ever launched from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.". [29]
On 26 February 2022, Roscosmos announced that it was suspending operations at ELS as a reaction to international sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War. [30] According to Stephane Israël, CEO of Arianespace, "there will no longer be Soyuz launches" from the Guiana Space Center. [31]
Astrium assembles each Ariane 5 launcher in the Launcher Integration Building. The vehicle is then delivered to the Final Assembly Building for payload integration by Arianespace. [32] The Final Assembly Building is located 2.8 km (1.7 mi) from the ELA-3 launch zone. The mobile launch table completes the trip with an Ariane 5 in about one hour. It is then secured in place over the launch pad's flame ducts. [33]
Fire safety is ensured by a detachment of the Paris Fire Brigade, a branch of the French Army. Security around the base is ensured by French Gendarmerie forces, assisted by the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion.[ citation needed ] Before and during launch windows, CSG facility security is significantly enhanced by anti-personnel and anti-aircraft measures, the exact configurations of which are classified by the French military. All entrants to the launch complex are also subject to checks for proof of permission to enter the facility.[ citation needed ]
The Guiana Space Centre (as per CNES) also contains the Îles du Salut , a former penal colony including the infamous Devil's Island. Now a tourist site, the islands are under the launching trajectory for geosynchronous orbit and have to be evacuated during launches.
As of 2017 [update] , Kourou counts amongst the spaceports with the highest percentage of successful launches, both successive and overall. Here is a chronology of all orbital launches from the Kourou spaceport since 1970, under the French and European space programmes.
Success Failure Partial Failure Scheduled
The space sector was responsible for about 15% of French Guiana's GDP in 2014, around half of the 28% it was in 1990. This reduction is mostly due to expansion in other sectors, rather than decreasing space activity. As of 2020, the space sector employed 4,620 people in Guiana, meaning the industry was responsible for just under 10% of salaried jobs in the overseas department, [52] though there are estimates that as many as 9,000 people are employed directly and indirectly as a result of activities at the spaceport. [53] The Guiana Space Centre (or CSG) is one of the spaceports in the world that receives the most traffic, and it receives large amounts of funding from the European Space Agency (ESA), with the organisation covering around 66% of the spaceport's annual budget, as well as financing new facilities. [54] Indigenous and local activist groups argue that mainland France is only interested in French Guiana as far as the space centre is concerned, and the funding that the space centre receives is symbolic given the inequity in living standards seen between the department and mainland France. [55] [56] For example, despite there being high poverty levels and unemployment rates of over 20% in the department, the cost of living remains high due to a dependence on mainland France for imported food and resources, yet large amounts of funding are invested in the space programme, rather than in public services for the department. [57]
The department became the site of strikes and protests throughout March and April 2017, which were held to highlight the insecurity and infrastructural issues facing French Guiana. Alongside 30 labour unions who launched strikes, the Collective of 500 Brothers led protests in Kourou, which spread across the entire country, and resonated in mainland France. [58] [59] On 21 March 2017, the launch of an Ariane 5 rocket carrying a Brazilian satellite and a South Korean satellite was prevented due to protesters and workers on strike from the CSG blockading the centre. [60] Further strikes and occupation of the space centre meant that the satellites were not launched until May 2017. [61] Negotiations between the French government and Guianese protesters resulted in a rejection of a €1.1 billion offer made by the French, with the Guianese demanding at least €3 billion in aid. [56] Since the protests, CNES (National Centre for Space Studies), the French government space agency that operates the spaceport, added an additional €10 million to the €40 million it had already pledged to fund economic and social programmes in French Guiana. [53]
Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), low Earth orbit (LEO) or further into space. The launch vehicle had a streak of 82 consecutive successful launches between 9 April 2003 and 12 December 2017. Since 2014, Ariane 6, a direct successor system, is in development.
Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the operation and marketing of the Ariane programme. The company offers a number of different launch vehicles: the heavy-lift Ariane 6 for dual launches to geostationary transfer orbit, and the solid-fueled Vega series for lighter payloads.
The Ariane 4 was a European expendable launch vehicle, developed by the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Arianespace. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the final flight on 15 February 2003, it attained 113 successful launches out of 116 total launches.
Vega is an expendable launch system in use by Arianespace jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on 13 February 2012.
HYLAS is a British satellite in geostationary orbit. HYLAS, which is an acronym for Highly Adaptable Satellite, is a communications satellite and was launched by the European Ariane 5 launch vehicle from the Guyana Space Centre at Kourou in French Guiana. It is located at the orbital location of 33.5 degrees west and will provide new and innovative services including High Definition Television (HDTV) and interactive satellite delivered broadband services. The satellite will help address the issue of poor broadband coverage in many parts of Europe which have less developed ground infrastructure.
ELA-1, short for Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 1, now named Ensemble de Lancement Vega, is a launch pad at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana. It has been used to support launches of the Europa rocket, Ariane 1, Ariane 3, and is currently used to launch Vega rockets.
The Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz (ELS) is a launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou/Sinnamary, French Guiana. It was used by Soyuz-ST rockets: modified versions of the Soyuz-2 optimised for launch from Kourou under Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre programme.
The French space program includes both civil and military spaceflight activities. It is the third oldest national space program in the world, after the Soviet and American space programs, and the largest space program in Europe.
Hot Bird 7 was a communications satellite that was lost in a launch failure in 2002. Intended for operation by Eutelsat, it was to have provided direct-to-home broadcasting services from geostationary orbit as part of Eutelsat's Hot Bird constellation at a longitude of 13° East. Hot Bird 7 was intended to replace the Hot Bird 3 satellite, which had been launched in 1997.
Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre was a European Space Agency (ESA) programme for operating Soyuz-ST launch vehicles from Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), providing medium-size launch capability for Arianespace to complement the light Vega and heavy-lift Ariane 5. The Soyuz vehicle was supplied by the Roscosmos with TsSKB-Progress and NPO Lavochkin, while additional components were supplied by Airbus, Thales Group and RUAG. Autor LV (ICBM) = NPO "Energia", Kaliningrad.
ArianeGroup is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux. It consists of three core groups: aerospace, defence and security. ArianeGroup has developed its next-generation two-stage Ariane 6 launch vehicle, which succeeded the Ariane 5 rocket, that had more than 110 launches. The new vehicle offers two variants that will be capable of carrying between 10,350 and 21,650 kilograms. The first launch of Ariane 6 is expected to occur in 2024.
ELA-4, is a launch pad and associated facilities at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana located along the Route de l'Espace in the Roche Christine site, between ELA-3 and ELS launch facilities. The complex is composed of a launch pad with mobile gantry, an horizontal assembly building and a dedicated launch operations building. ELA-4 is operated by Arianespace as part of the Ariane 6 program. As of November 2022 the first launch is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.
Vega flight VV16, also called SSMS PoC Flight, was the 16th launch of the Vega rocket. The launch was also notable as it was the first Vega launch following the accident of the VV15 launch in July 2019 that caused the loss of FalconEye1 satellite.
STENTOR was a French communications satellite which was lost in a launch failure in 2002. Intended for operation by CNES, France Telecom, and Direction générale de l'armement (DGA). To validate, in flight, advanced technologies which would be integrated in the next generation of telecommunications spacecraft. It will also demonstrate new telecommunications services, including broadband and multimedia transmissions to small user terminals.
Eutelsat I F-2, also known as European Communications Satellite 2 (ECS-2) is a decommissioned communications satellite operated by the European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (Eutelsat). Launched in 1984, it was operated in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 7° East, before moving to several other locations later in its operational life, before it was finally decommissioned in 1993. It was the second of five satellites launched to form the first-generation Eutelsat constellation.
Eutelsat I F-3, also known as European Communications Satellite 3 (ECS-3) is a decommissioned communications satellite operated by the European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (Eutelsat). Launched in 1985, it was operated in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 10° East. It was the third of five satellites launched to form the first-generation Eutelsat constellation.
Eutelsat I F-4, also known as European Communications Satellite-4 (ECS-4) is a decommissioned communications satellite operated by the European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (Eutelsat). Launched in 1987, it was operated in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 10° East, before moving to several other locations later in its operational life, before it was finally decommissioned in 2002. It was the fourth of five satellites launched to form the first-generation Eutelsat constellation.
Eutelsat I F-5, also known as European Communications Satellite-5 (ECS-5) is a decommissioned communications satellite operated by the European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (Eutelsat). Launched in 1988, it was operated in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 10° East, before moving to several other locations later in its operational life, before it was finally decommissioned in 2000. It was the fifth of five satellites launched to form the first-generation Eutelsat constellation. First Eutelsat satellite to provide transatlantic connectivity.