Guiana Space Centre

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The Guiana Space Centre, or more commonly, Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) is a French spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana. Operational since 1968, it is particularly suitable as a location for a spaceport due to its proximity to the equator, and the fact that launches in the favourable direction are over water. The European Space Agency, the French space agency CNES, and the commercial Arianespace company conduct launches from Kourou.

The place was selected in 1964 to become the spaceport of France. When the European Space Agency (ESA) was founded in 1975, France offered to share Kourou with ESA. Commercial launches are bought also 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.

1 Facilities
2 Launch safety
3 Recent launches
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Facilities

The now-decommissioned ELA 2 - l'Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 2 Ariane 4 launch site

The final assembly building for Ariane 5

Kourou is located approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) north of the equator, at a latitude of 5°10'. At this latitude, the Earth's rotation gives a velocity of approximately 500 metres per second (1,100 mph/1,800 km/h) when the launch trajectory heads eastward. The proximity to the equator also makes manoeuvring satellites for geosynchronous orbits simpler and less costly.

The ground facilities at GSC include launcher (l'Ensemble de Lancement) and satellite preparation buildings, launch operation facilities and a solid propellant factory. GSC covers a total of 850 square kilometres (330 sq mi).

[edit] ELV (CECLES/ELA-1)

Main article: ELA-1

ELV - l'Ensemble de Lancement Vega was originally built in the 1960s under the name of CECLES (Conférence Européenne de Construction de Lanceurs et d'Engins Spatiaux - European conference on construction of launchers and spacecraft.) for the Europa-II rocket. One Europa-II was launched from the site, before the programme was cancelled.

The pad was demolished, and subsequently rebuilt as the first launch complex for Ariane rockets, ELA - l'Ensemble de Lancement Ariane, later redesignated ELA 1, which was used for Ariane 1, 2 and 3 launches until it was retired in 1989.^[1]

It is being rebuilt to support launches of the Vega rocket, under the current designation of ELV.

[edit] ELA 2

ELA 2 - l'Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 2 (located at 5.232 N, 52.776 W) was used for Ariane 4 launches until 2003.

[edit] ELA 3

Main article: ELA-3

ELA 3 - l'Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 3 is currently in active use for Ariane 5 launches. These facilities cover 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi).^[2]

[edit] ELS / Soyuz at CSG

ESA is currently building ELS - l'Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz for launching Russian-built Soyuz rockets. The first Soyuz launch from ELS is scheduled for second half of 2009.^[3]^[4] ELS will be located near Sinnamari, a village 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the site used for the Ariane 5. Under the terms of a Russo-European joint venture, ESA will augment its own launch vehicle fleet with Soyuz rockets (and use them to launch ESA and/or commercial payloads) and the Russians will get access to the Kourou spaceport for launching their own payloads with Soyuz rockets. They will use the Guiana Space Centre as an alternative to their Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan launching site, with the benefit of significantly added payload capability due to the before-mentioned position near the equator. A Soyuz rocket with a 1.7 tonnes GTO performance from Baikonur will increase its payload to 2.8 tonnes from Guiana^[5].

The 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 ^[6]. The official opening of the launch site construction occurred on February 27, 2007. Excavation work however, started several months before and groundworks are still continuing as of May 2008. The flame pit is substantially complete, as is the shell of the Soyuz assembly building. Equipment manufactured in Russia arrived in French Guiana in July 2008. Russian technicians will install this equipment at ELS.^[3]

In November 2007, reports^[7] emerged attributed to Vladimir Grezdilov, general director of the Mir company, of thefts from the Soyuz site near Sinnamari, a village 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the site used for the Ariane-5, that might cause delays to its completion and the first launches. Grezdilov said that the local security company was involved.

[edit] Final assembly building

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.^[8] The Final Assembly Building is located 2.8 kilometres (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.^[9]

[edit] Launch safety

Fire safety is ensured by a detachment of the Paris Fire Brigade. Safety around the base is ensured by French Gendarmerie forces, assisted by the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion.

The Guiana Space Centre (as per CNES) also holds 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.

[edit] Recent launches

2007-10-05 - An Ariane 5 GS launched from CSG carrying Intelsat 11 and Optus D2.^[10]

2008-03-09 - An Ariane 5 launched carrying the ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) Jules Verne in preparation for docking with the ISS. This was the first launch of the ESA's unmanned resupply craft.