The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European
spaceport
A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...
to the northwest of
Kourou
Kourou () is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It i ...
in
French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
, a
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. Kourou is located approximately north of the equator, at a latitude of 5°. In operation since 1968, it is suitable as a location for a spaceport, because of its
equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...
ial location and open sea to the east.
The
European Space Agency
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
(ESA), the
European Union Agency for the Space Programme
The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is a space agency, managing the European Union Space Programme as one of the agencies of the European Union (EU). It was initially created as the ''European Global Navigation Satellit ...
(EUSPA), the French space agency
CNES
The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...
(National Centre for Space Studies), the
Space Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azercosmos) and the commercial company
Arianespace
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 ...
conduct launches from Kourou. It was used by the ESA to send supplies to the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
using the
Automated Transfer Vehicle
The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV design was launched to orbit fiv ...
.
History
In 1964 Guiana was selected to become the spaceport of France,
replacing France's first launch site
Centre interarmées d'essais d'engins spéciaux in
Hammaguir
Hammaguir (also written Hamaguir and Hammaguira) ( ar, حماقير) is a village in Abadla District, Béchar Province, Algeria, south-west of Béchar. It lies on the N50 national highway between Béchar and Tindouf. The location is notable fo ...
, Algeria.
In 1975, France offered to share Kourou with the ESA.
["Installation of the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana"](_blank)
. Guiana Space Centre official website
. European Space Agency official website 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 labor unions and
indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
leaders in the midst of the
2017 social unrest in French Guiana
The 2017 social unrest in French Guiana was a series of protests and strikes led by the "Collective of 500 Brothers" to highlight the issues of insecurity and infrastructure in French Guiana, France. It began on March 20, 2017 in Kourou, and sprea ...
, highlighting problems from its colonial heritage,
but was taken back on 24 April 2017.
Facilities
The Guiana Space Centre was built in its current location for many reasons. Located near the
equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...
, substantially less energy is required to maneuver a spacecraft from the spaceport into an equatorial, geostationary orbit. Adjacent to the Centre is the open sea to the east, reducing the chance of lower stages of rockets and debris from launch failures falling on or near human habitations. Rockets usually launch to the east to take advantage of the
angular momentum
In physics, angular momentum (rarely, moment of momentum or rotational momentum) is the rotational analog of linear momentum. It is an important physical quantity because it is a conserved quantity—the total angular momentum of a closed syst ...
provided by Earth's rotation.
The near-equatorial launch location of The Guiana Space Centre is meant to provide an advantage for launches to low-
inclination
Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object.
For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...
(or
geostationary) Earth
orbit
In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...
s compared to launches from
spaceport
A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...
s 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, needing to change inclination by 28.5° can 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.
BEC / ELA-1 / ELV
Originally built in the 1960s under the name of Base Équatoriale du
CECLES ( en,
ELDO
Eldo is a given name is a variation of Eldho and may refer to the following people
People
*Eldo Abraham, Indian politician
* Eldo T. Ridgway (1880–1955), American physician and politician
Fictional characters
*''Eldo Davip'',a fictional soldie ...
Equatorial Base), the pad located at 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.
The pad at Giunana was demolished, and subsequently rebuilt as the first launch complex for Ariane as ''ELA'' (french: Ensemble de Lancement Ariane). Redesignated later as ''ELA-1'', it was used for
Ariane 1
Ariane 1 was the first rocket in the Ariane family of expendable launch systems. It was developed and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), which had been formed in 1973, the same year that development of the launcher had commenced.
A ...
and
Ariane 2 and 3 launches until being retired in 1989.
In November 2001, it was refurbished again for the
Vega rocket
Vega ( it, Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata, or french: Vecteur européen de génération avancée, or en, European Vector of Advanced Generation, meaning "Advanced generation European carrier rocket") is an expendable launch system in ...
and renamed ''ELV'' (french: Ensemble de Lancement Vega). The first launch was launched on 13 February 2012.
ELA-2
The ELA-2 pad (french: Ensemble de Lancement Ariane-2), located at , built in 1986, had been used for
Ariane 4
The Ariane 4 was a European expendable space launch system, 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 Ari ...
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 launches from the pad. A mobile service tower at the launch pad provided a protected environment for payload installation and final preparation of the rocket.
In September 2011 the pad's service tower was demolished using explosives.
ELA-3
ELA-3 (french: Ensemble de Lancement Ariane-3) has been active, launching
Ariane 5 rockets since 1996. This facility is located at and covers an area of .
ELA-4
ELA4 is located along the Route de l'Espace in the Roche Christine site at , 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. The new launch facility was inaugurated on 28 September 2021 with first flight of the Ariane 6 scheduled in 2023.
ELS / Soyuz at CSG
ESA has built ELS (french: Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz) at for launching
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n-built
Soyuz-2
Soyuz-2 ( GRAU index 14A14) is a modernized version of the Soviet Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a three-stage launch vehicle for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. Compared to the previous versions of the Soyuz, the first-stage ...
rockets. The first Soyuz launch from ELS was postponed several times, but launched on 21 October 2011.
ELS is located on the territory of
Sinnamary
Sinnamary is a town and commune on the coast of French Guiana, between Kourou and Iracoubo. Sinnamary was the second France, French settlement founded in French Guiana: the town was founded in 1664.
Sinnamary lies on the Sinnamary River and is ...
commune, from Kourou harbor. It is 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
equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...
ial position. A Soyuz rocket with a 1.7 tones to
geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) performance from Baikonur will increase its payload potential to 2.8 tones from the Guiana launch site.
The ELS project is being co-funded by
Arianespace
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 ...
, ESA, and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, 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 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.
By October 2010, 18 launch contracts were signed. Arianespace has ordered 24 launchers from Russian industry.
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.".
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 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
The Paris Fire Brigade (french: Brigade des sapeurs-pompiers de Paris, BSPP) is a French Army unit which serves as the primary fire and rescue service for Paris, the city's inner suburbs and certain sites of national strategic importance.
The ...
, a branch of the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...
. Security around the base is ensured by
French Gendarmerie
The National Gendarmerie (french: Gendarmerie nationale, ) is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police. The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Mini ...
forces, assisted by the
3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment of the
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
. 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
The Salvation Islands (french: Îles du Salut, so called because the missionaries went there to escape plague on the mainland; sometimes mistakenly called Safety Islands) are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about off the coast of Fre ...
'', 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
Intelsat 11 is a communications satellite owned by Intelsat planned to be located at 43.0° West longitude, serving the Americas market. Intelsat 11 is intended to replace Intelsat 3R which is nearing the end of its design life. It was built b ...
and
Optus D2
This is a list of the satellites operated by Optus, an Australian telecommunications company. The satellite communications facility is located at Belrose on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Optus' satellites are divided into 4 classes A, B, C and D. As ...
.
* 9 March 2008 — An Ariane 5 launched carrying the
ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) ''Jules Verne'' in preparation for docking with the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
(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
, established on 15 January 1921, is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi. The products from MELCO include elevators an ...
and
AMC-21 for
SES Americom
SES Americom was a major commercial satellite operator of North American geosynchronous satellites based in the United States. The company started as RCA Americom in 1975 before being bought by General Electric in 1986 and then later acquired b ...
* 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
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
space telescope
A space telescope or space observatory is a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. Suggested by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, the first operational telescopes were the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO-2 launch ...
s
* 1 July 2009 — An Ariane 5 carrying
TerreStar-1
TerreStar-1 is an American communications satellite which was operated by TerreStar Corporation. It was constructed by Space Systems/Loral, based on the LS-1300S bus, and carries E/ F band (IEEE S band) transponders which will be used to provid ...
, the heaviest commercial telecommunications satellite ever launched
* 18 December 2009 — An Ariane 5 carrying
Helios 2B European military observation satellite used by
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
.
* 21 May 2011 — 04:38 (GMT+08:00) An Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle launched carrying
ST-2 Satellite twice as powerful
Singtel's first satellite ST-1, which was launched back in 1998. It will provide 20% more transponder capacity and a wider coverage footprint than
ST-1
ST-1 is a communications satellite owned by Singapore Telecom and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Company, Ltd. It was placed launched on 25 August 1998, by an Ariane 4 rocket. The two companies jointly operate the spacecraft from control centres loc ...
, with C-band and Ku-band coverage of the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
,
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
,
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
and
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
.
* 21 October 2011 — A
Soyuz-2
Soyuz-2 ( GRAU index 14A14) is a modernized version of the Soviet Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a three-stage launch vehicle for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. Compared to the previous versions of the Soyuz, the first-stage ...
carrying two
Galileo satellites was launched. This was the first launch of a Soyuz rocket at the Centre Spatial Guyanais.
* 17 December 2011 — A Soyuz carrying the French space agency's
Pleiades 1 Earth imaging satellite, four
ELISA
The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid-phase type of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect the presence ...
electronic intelligence satellites, and the
SSOT remote sensing satellite for the
Chilean military
The Chilean Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de Chile) is the unified military organization comprising the Chilean Army, Air Force, and Navy. The President of Chile is the commander-in-chief of the military, and formulates policy through the Mi ...
. This was the second launch of a Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre.
* 13 February 2012 — The
Vega
Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, a ...
, which was designed in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, lifted off at 10:00 UTC 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 21:36 UTC.
* 30 August 2013 — Indian Space Research Organisation (
ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...
) launched the advanced multi-band communication satellite
GSAT-7
GSAT-7 or INSAT-4F is a multi-band military communications satellite developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation. The Indian Navy is the user of the multi-band communication spacecraft, which has been operational since September 2013. Acco ...
. It was 17th Indian satellite launched from
ESA
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...
with
Ariane 5.
* 16 October 2014 — An Ariane 5 launch vehicle carrying the communication satellite
ARSAT-1
ARSAT-1 is a geostationary communications satellite operated by AR-SAT and built by the Argentine company INVAP. ARSAT-1 was launched into orbit on October 16, 2014, from French Guiana alongside Intelsat-30 satellite using an Ariane 5 rocket. It ...
to orbit. It is the first geostationary satellite built by a Latin American country,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, and the second one of the Americas, after the U.S.
* 30 September 2015 — An Ariane 5 launch vehicle carrying the communication satellite
ARSAT-2
ARSAT-2 is a geostationary communications satellite operated by ARSAT and built by the Argentine company INVAP. It was launched from French Guiana alongside Sky Muster satellite using an Ariane 5ECA rocket on September 30, 2015 at 20:30hs UTC, ...
to orbit, being the second Argentine geostationary satellite built in two years.
* 1 October 2015 —
Sky Muster
The Sky Muster satellites are two geostationary (GEO) communications satellites operated by NBN Co Limited and built by SSL. They were launched in 2015 and 2016 to provide fast broadband in areas where NBN didn't want to either lay fiber or ...
(NBN-Co 1A) is a communication satellite launched on an
Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle. Sky Muster is the first satellite of an operation to improve Australia's internet with the
NBN program.
* 6 October 2016 —
Sky Muster II
The Sky Muster satellites are two geostationary (GEO) communications satellites operated by NBN Co Limited and built by SSL. They were launched in 2015 and 2016 to provide fast broadband in areas where NBN didn't want to either lay fiber or ...
(NBN-Co 1B) is a communication satellite launched on an Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle. 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 launch vehicle carrying the commercial communication satellites
Sky Brasil 1 (Intelsat 32e) and Telekom 3S launched the satellites to a geostationary orbit.
* 25 January 2018 — Partial failure of Ariane 5 launch vehicle on
Ariane flight VA241
Ariane flight VA241 was an Ariane 5 space launch that occurred from the Guiana Space Centre on 25 January 2018 at 22:20 UTC.
Payload
The launcher was carrying the SES-14 and Al Yah 3 geostationary satellites, with a total payload mass of ap ...
.
* 19 October 2018 — An Ariane 5 launch vehicle launches the European-Japanese
BepiColombo
BepiColombo is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the planet Mercury. The mission comprises two satellites launched together: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and ''Mio'' ...
mission to
Mercury.
* 5 February 2019 — Ariane 5 launched the
Saudi Geostationary Satellite
SGS-1 (also known as SaudiGeosat-1/HellasSat-4).
* 11 July 2019 — Vega launch vehicle failed to launch
Falcon Eye 1
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
satellite for
United Arab Emirates Armed Forces
The United Arab Emirates Armed Forces ( ar, القوات المسلحة لدولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, Al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥa li-Dawlat al-ʾImārāt al-ʿArabīyyah al-Muttaḥidah) are the armed forces of the Unit ...
.
* 15 August 2020 — An Ariane 5 launched
MEV-2,
BSAT-4b
BSAT-4b, is a geostationary communications satellite ordered by Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation and designed and manufactured by SSL of Maxar Technologies on the SSL 1300 platform. It is expected to be stationed on the 110.0° East ...
, and
Galaxy-30.
* 25 December 2021 —
James Webb Space Telescope.
* 13 December 2022 - An Ariane 5 launched the first third generation Meteosat:
Meteosat MTG-I1.
Launch statistics
, 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
In development:
Active:
Retired:
Flights by mission outcome
Local impact
Colonialism
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 4620 people in Guiana, meaning the industry was responsible for just under 10% of salaried jobs in the territory, though there are estimates that as many as 9000 people are employed directly and indirectly as a result of activities at the spaceport.
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. 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.
Historically, the space centre has been referred to as its own state, and activists have accused both the French state and the space centre of colonial practices.
Decolonisation of space exploration is mostly focussed on large scale efforts regarding outer space environments, however issues surrounding the Guiana Space Centre have been attributed to the continued postcolonial running of French Guiana. Proponents of this line of thinking argue that whilst the general populace may want to remain a territory of France for the benefits this entails, the negative impacts of colonialism are still being seen today, particularly in the running of the space centre.
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.
The territory became the site of strikes and protests over the course of March and April 2017, which were held to highlight the insecurity and infrastructural issues facing French Guiana brought about by its colonial history.
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. 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. Further strikes and occupation of the space centre meant that the satellites were not launched until May 2017. 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.
Since the protests, CNES (National Centre for Space Studies), the French government space agency that operate the spaceport, added an additional €10 million to the €40 it had already pledged to fund economic and social programmes in French Guiana.
It has been said that the impact of these protests demonstrated not only the locality of the impact of colonialism, but also the vulnerability of postcolonialism in space travel to the organisation of workers and citizens.
Labour geographies
Scholars in the field of
labor geography Labor geography is a sub-discipline of human geography and economic geography that deals with the spatial relationships and geographic trends within labor and political systems.
See also
* Labor market area
Further reading
*
*
Human geography
...
, the study of spatial relationships in the context of employment and worker agency, have begun geographical analysis of space centres.
In addition to the impacts experienced during the 2017 unrest, the CSG also experienced worker walkouts in 2011. Workers who operated the radar responsible for tracking an Ariane 5 rocket's launch into space were part of strike action organised by the Trade Union of French Guiana workers representing workers from a subcontractor of Ariane in Italy, Telespazio. This walkout prevented the scheduled launch with only 7 hours’ notice, and delayed satellite launches set to benefit the United States and the Middle East. Although workers unionising has hindered missions, it has been suggested that workers perpetuate the uneven conditions around space facilities that result from colonialism and the capitalist modes of production. Despite being negatively impacted by these uneven conditions, worker efforts to make the mundane or potentially high-stress jobs they do more enjoyable or manageable contribute to the success of the facilities and further “
astro-capitalism”.
At the CSG certain traditions arose in the workplace that were believed to increase chances of success, such as lighting candles at the church in Kourou when launches were taking place, or sprinkling salt in order to cultivate professional working relationships.
It has also been stressed that consideration of different intersectional identities must also occur to understand labour geographies of space centres, so that different experiences and voices can be understood in the context of the space age.
Different identities impact the labour geographies of the CSG and French Guiana as a whole. Tension between workers has been seen within the space centre, where European engineers have criticised the “lack of professional commitment to labour” of the Guianese workers.
Also, there is tension between workers at the facility and workers in other sectors, with there being claims that citizens must choose between working in the space centre or living in poverty.
Labour geography seeks to show that space workers, such as those at the Guiana Space Centre, do not serve as a “passive appendage” to struggles around space travel and “astro-capitalism”
See also
*
French space program
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 (now Russian) and American space programs, and the largest space program in Europe.
B ...
*
European Space Operations Centre
The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) serves as the main mission control centre for the European Space Agency (ESA) and is located in Darmstadt, Germany. ESOC's primary function is the operation of unmanned spacecraft on behalf of ESA and ...
(ESOC)
*
European Space Research and Technology Centre
The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. It is situated in Noordwijk, South Holland, in the western Netherlands, alt ...
(ESTEC)
*
European Space Astronomy Centre
The European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid in Spain is the ESA's centre for space science (astronomy, solar system exploration and fundamental physics). It hosts the science operation centres for all ESA astronomy and planetary miss ...
(ESAC)
*
European Astronaut Centre
The European Astronaut Centre (EAC) (German: Europäisches Astronautenzentrum, French: Centre des astronautes européens), is an establishment of the European Space Agency and home of the European Astronaut Corps. It is near to Cologne, Germany ...
(EAC)
*
European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications
The European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications or ECSAT is a research center belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA) and located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
It was created in ...
(ECSAT)
*
ESA Centre for Earth Observation
The ESA Centre for Earth Observation (also known as the European Space Research Institute or ESRIN) is a research centre belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA), located in Frascati (Rome) Italy. It is dedicated to research involving eart ...
(ESRIN)
*
European Space Tracking Network (ESTRACK)
*
European Space Agency
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
(ESA)
*
3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment
References
External links
*
Soyouz in Guiana – information from ESA
– information from StratoCat
Arianespace mission status– information on current and upcoming Ariane missions; list of past missions
{{Authority control
European Space Agency
Spaceports
Buildings and structures in Kourou
Rocket launch sites
Space program of France
1968 establishments in South America
1968 establishments in France