El Arenosillo Test Centre (CEDEA) is the name of a

rocket launch site This article constitutes a list of rocket launch sites. Some of these sites are known as spaceports or cosmodromes. A single rocket launch is sufficient for inclusion in the table, as long as the site is properly documented through a reference. M ...

for

suborbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital r ...

rockets managed by

INTA Inta (russian: Инта́, kv, Инта) is a town in the Komi Republic, Russia. Population: History Inta was founded circa 1940 as a settlement to support a geological expedition to explore coal deposits and projecting of mines. The city's n ...

, located near

Mazagón Mazagón is a town which belongs to Moguer and Palos de la Frontera, in the province of Huelva, Andalusia, Spain. A coastal town, Magazón borders the Atlantic Ocean, and is located 22 km from the province capital, Huelva Huelva (, ) is a ...

in Spain. It is located in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Huelva Huelva (, ) is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is between two short rias though has an outlying spur including nature reserve on the Gulf of Cádiz coast. The rias ...

Andalucía Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, in the southwest coast of Spain (37.1° N, 6.7° W). CEDEA is adjacent to the Center of Excellence for Unmanned Systems (CEUS). El Arenosillo is also the location of an autonomous

astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

of the BOOTES networ

with two domes and three telescopes.

Equipment

Among the main facilities that INTA has at CEDEA are (updated 2009): * Two automatic telemetry systems (fixed and mobile) in S and L bands * HF, UHF and VHF communications systems * Airborne and maritime surveillance radars, NORTHCONTROL * Mobile path radar, Vitro Corporation, VITRO RIR 778X, 250 Kw * Radar path,

TRACOR Tracor was a major North American defense electronics contractor which was acquired by Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), a subsidiary of General Electric Company plc, in 1998. Following the purchase of MES by British Aerospace in November 1999 t ...

RIR 779C, 1 Mw * 1Mw Vitro Corporation, VITRO RIR 778C mobile path radar with destruction command * Three autonomous mobile optronic stations, MSP 2000, equipped with IR, TV, cinema and radar sensors (3D, high precision and with telemetric capabilities) * Weather center with real-time information, satellite data reception and complete radiosonde system * Control center where all the information necessary for the supervision and monitoring of a launching operation (air traffic control, meteorology, cartography, sensor data integration, flight safety, etc.) is centralized. * Evaluation center: preparation, analysis and evaluation of reports * Two high speed cameras (10000 images/s) Complementing the above, the Center also has: * Meteorological laboratory and probe balloons * Presentation and conference room * Telemetry, radar and optronic workshops * Mechanical workshop, electrical workshop, sanitary service and warehouses * Accommodation service for operations * Laboratory for photographic processing In 2017 part of the equipment was damaged in a

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

. In the years 2018 and 2019 INTA has dedicated part of its budget to replace damaged equipment.

Pads

Incomplete list of launch pads: * Nike – Operational. Based on a modified

Nike Hercules The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range air defense. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclear warhead, bu ...

system * Sermiat – Unoperational. Used for Centaure rockets * Médano del Loro – Operational. Is an adjacent launch site managed by

Spanish Army The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century. The ...

Launch history

The first launch of a rocket from El Arenosillo took place 15 October 1966. Up to 1994 a total of 557 rockets were launched from this base, mainly of the

Skua The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the long-tailed skua, the Arctic skua, and the pomarine skua are called jae ...

type for

atmospheric sounding Atmospheric sounding or atmospheric profiling is a measurement of vertical distribution of physical properties of the atmospheric column such as pressure, temperature, wind speed and wind direction (thus deriving wind shear), liquid water content, ...

s and in collaboration with other countries. All rockets for atmospheric soundings in Spain are launched from El Arenosillo. In 2015

Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering is a student-run society within Delft University of Technology, with over 190 members. The main focus of the student group is the development of rocket technology on a non-profit basis. All development, from engi ...

broke the European altitude record for amateur rocketry by launching the Stratos II+ rocket to 21.5 km altitude from El Arenosillo. On 1 March 2017,

Zero 2 Infinity Zero 2 Infinity (0II∞, sometimes rendered as Zero2Infinity) is a private Spanish company developing high-altitude balloons intended to provide access to near space and low Earth orbit using a balloon-borne pod and a balloon-borne launch vehi ...

tested its first rocket, a Bloostar prototype, in El Arenosillo. A balloon took Bloostar to 25 km. At 25 km the ignition of the rocket took place. The goals of the mission were: (i) validation of the telemetry systems in Space conditions, (ii) controlled ignition, (iii) stabilization of the rocket, (iv) monitoring of the launch sequence, (v) parachute deployment, and finally, (vi) sea recovery. All these goals were achieved in full. In 2022

PLD Space Payload Aerospace S.L. (PLD Space) is a Spanish company developing two partially-reusable launch vehicles called Miura 1 and Miura 5. Miura 1 is designed as a sounding rocket for sub-orbital flights to perform research or technology development i ...

is expected to launch its first rocket

Miura 1 Miura 1 (previously called Arion 1) is a suborbital recoverable launch vehicle developed by the Spanish company PLD Space. It is planned to be the first recoverable launch vehicle in Europe. The first launch is currently scheduled for the 15 Ja ...

from El Arenosillo. Only some launches are listed here. For information on individual rockets, see the List of rockets launched from El Arenosillo.

References

{{Space program of Spain Buildings and structures in the Province of Huelva Rocket launch sites Astronomical observatories in Spain INTA facilities