Hammaguir (also written Hamaguir and Hammaguira) ( ar, حماقير) is a village in

Abadla District Abadla is a district in Béchar Province, Algeria. It was named after its capital, Abadla. According to the 2008 census, the total population of the district was 21,133 inhabitants. Most of the population of the region is clustered around the Oue ...

Béchar Province Béchar ( ar, ولاية بشار) is the second least-densely populated province (''wilaya'') in Algeria, named after its capital Béchar. History The greater part of the province is dry plains (hamadas) suitable for grazing but with insuffic ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, south-west of

Béchar Béchar ( ar, بشار) is the capital city of Béchar Province, Algeria. It is also a commune, coextensive with Béchar District, of Béchar Province. In 2008 the city had a population of 165,627, up from 134,954 in 1998, with an annual growth ...

. It lies on the N50 national highway between Béchar and

Tindouf Tindouf ( Berber: Tinduf, ar, تندوف) is the main town, and a commune in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Mauritanian, Western Saharan and Moroccan borders. The commune has population of around 160,000 but the census and population ...

. The location is notable for its role in French

rocketry Rocketry may refer to: Science and technology * The design and construction of rockets ** The hobbyist or (semi-)professional use of model rockets * Aerospace engineering, also known as rocket science * Amateur rocketry, a hobby in which parti ...

. Hamaguir Airport is located there.

Role in French rocketry and spaceflight

Between 1947 and 1967 there was a

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

launch site 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 ...

, the Interarmy Special Vehicles Test Centre (abbreviated CIEES in French), near Hammaguir, 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 ...

for launching

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

s and the satellite carrier ''"

Diamant The Diamant rocket (French for "diamond") was the first exclusively French expendable launch system and at the same time the first satellite launcher not built by either the United States or USSR. As such, it has been referred to as being a key ...

"'' between 1965 and 1967. The Diamant launch pad at Hammaguir is located a
30° 46′ 41″ N, 3° 3′ 14″ W
The CIEES facility was also used for testing

surface-to-air A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

and

air-to-air missile The newest and the oldest member of Rafael's Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back) An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying a ...

s. The first French satellite

Astérix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...

was launched from there in 1965. In honor of its role in the early development of French spaceflight, its name was given to a Martian crater in 1979 and to an asteroid crater in 2009.

Launches

Climate

Hammaguir has a hot

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

, with extremely hot summers and cool winters, and very little precipitation throughout the year.

References

Neighbouring towns and cities

{{Portal, Spaceflight Spaceports Populated places in Béchar Province Science and technology in France Science and technology in Algeria