The Guiana Space Centre (French: Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) ) is a French and European
spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, South America, a territory of France.
Operational since 1968, it is particularly suitable as a location for a spaceport.
It fulfills the two major geographical requirements of such a site:
It is near the equator, so that less energy is required to maneuver a spacecraft into
an equatorial, geostationary orbit.
It has open sea to the east, so that lower stages of rockets and debris from launch failures
are unlikely to fall on human habitations.
Rockets launch to the east to take advantage of the angular momentum provided by Earth's
rotation.The European Space Agency (ESA), the French space agency CNES (National Centre
for Space Studies), and the commercial companies Arianespace and Azercosmos conduct launches
from Kourou.
This was the spaceport used by the ESA to send supplies to the International Space Station
using the Automated Transfer Vehicle.
The location was selected in 1964 to become the spaceport of France.
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.
On 4 April 2017, the centre was occupied by 30 labour union leaders in the midst of the
2017 social unrest in French Guiana, but was taken back on April 24, 2017.
== Facilities ==
Kourou is located approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) north of the equator, at a latitude
of 5°.
It is a common misconception that the main advantage of launching a rocket from the equator
is the extra boost provided by the speed of the Earth's rotation.
For example, the eastward boost provided by the Earth's rotation is about 463 m/s (1,035
miles per hour) at the Guiana Space Centre, as compared to about 406 m/s (908 miles per
hour) at the United States east coast Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center spaceports
which are at 28°27′N latitude in Florida.
This means that rockets need around 60 m/s more delta-v to reach Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
from Cape Canaveral, which is an insignificant disadvantage.In reality, the main benefit
of Kourou is that the near-equatorial launch location provides an advantage for launches
to low-inclination (or geostationary) Earth orbits compared to launches from spaceports
at higher latitude.
This is because rockets can be launched into orbits with an inclination of as low as ~6°.
The lowest inclination a rocket from Cape Canaveral could be launched to is 28.5° (the
latitude of Cape Canaveral).
Inclination change burns already require significant amounts of delta-v, so needing to change inclination
by 28.5° seriously affects a rocket's capability to send satellites into a geostationary transfer
orbit (GTO).
As a result of these phenomena, similarly sized Proton and Ariane 5 rockets can send
similar payloads to LEO.
However, the Proton, launched from high latitudes in Russia, can only send 6,270 kg to GTO while
a Kourou-launched Ariane 5 can send more than 10,000 kg to GTO.
=== ELV / ELA-1 / BEC ===
Originally built in the 1960s under the name of Base Équatoriale du CECLES (French: Conférence
Européenne de Construction de Lanceurs et d'Engins Spatiaux, English: European conference
on construction of launchers and spacecraft), the pad located at 5.236°N 52.775°W﻿ / 5.236;
-52.775 was designed 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.
Renamed ELA (later redesignated ELA-1), it was used for Ariane 1 and Ariane 2 and 3 launches
until being retired in 1989.In November 2001 it was renamed ELV pad (French: l'Ensemble
de Lancement Vega) and refurbished again for the Vega rocket.
The first launch was performed on 13 February 2012.
=== ELA-2 ===
The ELA-2 pad (French: l'Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 2), located at 5.232°N 52.776°W﻿
/ 5.232; -52.776 had been used for Ariane 4 launches until 2003.
=== ELA-3 ===
ELA-3 (French: l'Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 3) has been active for Ariane 5 launches since
1996 (Ariane 501).
This facility is located at 5.239°N 52.768°W﻿ / 5.239; -52.768 and covers an area of 21
square kilometres (8.1 sq mi).
=== ELA-4 === ELA-4 (French: l'Ensemble de Lancement Ariane
4) is presently under construction, intended for future Ariane 6 launches.
This facility is located at 5.26258°N 52.79074°W﻿ / 5.26258; -52.79074.
=== ELS / Soyuz at CSG ===
ESA has built ELS (French: l'Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz) at 5.305°N 52.834°W﻿ / 5.305;
-52.834 for launching Russian-built Soyuz-2 rockets.
The first Soyuz launch from ELS was postponed several times, but launched on October 21,
2011.ELS is located on the territory of Sinnamary commune, 27 km (17 mi) from Kourou harbor.
It is 10 km (6.2 mi) north 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 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) performance from Baikonur,
will increase its payload potential to 2.8 tonnes from the Guiana launch site.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.
The official opening of the launch site construction occurred on 27 February 2007.
Excavation work however, had previously begun several months beforehand.
On September 13, 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.
By October 2010, 18 launch contracts had been signed.
Arianespace has ordered 24 launchers from Russian industry.On October 21, 2011, two
Galileo IOV-1 & 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."
=== 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.
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.
== Launches ==
=== Launch safety ===
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.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.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.
=== Early launches === 10 March 1970 - The first Diamant-B launched
the DIAL/MIKA and DIAL/WIKA satellites.
DIAL/MIKA failed during launch, but it entered orbit with a total mass of 111 kg.
DIAL/WIKA provided data for about two months after launch.
=== Recent launches === 5 October 2007 — An Ariane 5 GS launched
from CSG carrying Intelsat 11 and Optus D2. 9 March 2008 — 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 unmanned resupply craft.
18 April 2008 — An Ariane 5 launched carrying Vinasat-1 — Vietnam's first satellite.
14 August 2008 — An Ariane 5 carrying Superbird 7 for Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and
AMC-21 for SES Americom 20 December 2008 — An Ariane 5 carrying
HOT BIRD 9 and W2M for Eutelsat 14 May 2009 — An Ariane 5 carrying the ESA's
Herschel and Planck space telescopes 1 July 2009 — An Ariane 5 carrying TerreStar-1,
the heaviest commercial telecommunications satellite ever launched
18 December 2009 — An Ariane 5 carrying Helios 2B European military observation satellite
used by France, Belgium, Spain and Greece.
21 May 2011 — 04:38 (GMT+08:00) An Ariane 5 ECA rocket launched carrying ST-2 Satellite
twice as powerful SingTel's first satellite ST-1 which was launched back in 1998.
It will provide 20 per cent more transponder capacity and a wider coverage footprint than
ST-1, with C-band and Ku-band coverage of the Middle East, Central Asia, Indian sub-continent
and Southeast Asia.
21 October 2011 — A Soyuz-2 carrying two Galileo satellites was launched.
This was the first launch of a Soyuz rocket at the Guiana Space Centre.
17 December 2011 — A Soyuz carrying the French space agency's Pleiades 1 Earth imaging
satellite, four ELISA electronic intelligence satellites, and the SSOT remote sensing satellite
for the Chilean military.
This was the second launch of a Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre.
13 February 2012 — The Vega, which was designed in Italy, lifted off at 10:00 GMT on its maiden
voyage.
The launcher released nine satellites into orbit: two Italian satellites and seven pico-satellites.
5 July 2012 — The unmanned Ariane 5 rocket took off to send an American communication
satellite and European weather-monitoring spacecraft into orbit.
Liftoff occurred at 17:36 EDT (21:36 GMT).
30 August 2013 — Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the advanced multi-band communication
satellite GSAT-7.
It was 17th Indian satellite launched from ESA with Ariane.
1 October 2015 — Sky Muster (NBN-Co 1A) is a communication satellite launched on an
Ariane 5ECA rocket.
Sky Muster is the first satellite of an operation to improve Australia's internet with the NBN
program.
6 October 2016 — Sky Muster II (NBN-Co 1B) is a communication satellite launched on an
Ariane 5ECA rocket.
Sky Muster II is the second satellite of an operation to improve Australia's internet
with the NBN program.
28 January 2017 — A Soyuz-2 STB carrying the geostationary communication satellite
Hispasat 36W-1 to orbit.
It is the first of the ESA's "Small-GEO" class of satellites.
14 February 2017 - An Ariane 5 rocket carrying the commercial communication satellites Sky
Brasil 1 (Intelsat 32e) and Telekom 3S launched the satellites to a geostationary orbit.
19 October 2018 - An Ariane 5 rocket launches the European-Japanese BepiColombo mission
to Mercury.
5 February 2019 - Ariane 5 launched the Saudi Geostationary Satellite SGS-1 (also known
as 1/Hellas Sat 4).
=== Future launches === Early 2021 (rescheduled from March–June
2019): James Webb Space Telescope.
== Launch statistics == As of 2017, 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.
=== Flights by launcher ===
=== Flights by mission outcome ===
Charts include all orbital launches from Kourou; sounding rockets are excluded.
Historical data: launch tables from List of Ariane launches, Soyuz ST, Vega and Encyclopedia
Aeronautica.
Last updated on 28 October 2018.
== See also ==
European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) European Space Research and Technology Centre
(ESTEC) European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)
European Astronaut Centre (EAC) European Centre for Space Applications and
Telecommunications (ECSAT) ESA Centre for Earth Observation (ESRIN)
European Space Tracking Network (ESTRACK) European Space Agency (ESA)
3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment