ELA-1 explained

Ensemble de Lancement Vega
Vega Launch Area
Site:Guiana Space Centre
Location:5.236°N -52.775°W
Utc Offset:−03
Time Zone:GFT
Short:ELV
Operator:ArianespaceESA
Paddetails:
Status:Active
First:5 November 1971
First Details:Europa II (STV-4)
Last:9 October 2023
Last Details:Vega (THEOS-2, TRITON & others)

ELV is a launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana supporting launches of the Vega and Vega C rockets. It was first built in November 1971 and was previously used to support launches of the Europa, Ariane 1 and Ariane 3 rockets.

History

Europa (BEC)

ELA-1, at the time designated BEC was constructed as an equatorial launch site for the Europa-II rocket which was being built as part of the ELDO programme. The first launch occurred on 5 November 1971. This was the only flight of the Europa-II, which ended in failure due to a guidance problem. The launch site was mothballed, and later demolished.

Ariane (ELA)

When the Ariane 1 programme was started, to replace the failed ELDO programme, a new launch site was built on the site of the former BEC, re-designated as ELA . The first Ariane 1 launch occurred on 24 December 1979. ELA was also used by Ariane 2 and Ariane 3 rockets, which first flew on 31 May 1986 and 4 August 1984 respectively. ELA was redesignated ELA-1 when the Ariane 4 entered service in 1988, as this launched from a separate launch pad, designated ELA-2. The Ariane 1 was retired on 22 February 1986, the Ariane 2 on 2 April 1989, and the Ariane 3 on 12 July 1989. ELA was subsequently demolished.

Vega (ELV)

In November 2001, started the redevelopment of the pad to accommodate the Vega rocket and the ELA-1 was redesignated ELV.[1] The reconstruction retained the Ariane 1 flame trench and added a new 50 m tall retractable vertical assembly building to cover the rocket during the preparation, four lighting protection masts and a new launch tower for the rocket. The launchpad is sometimes also designated as Site de Lancement Vega (SLV) and Zone de Lancement Vega (ZLV). Vega made its first launch from the complex on 13 February 2012.[2]

Launch History

DateFlightLauncherPayloadResultReferences
15 November 1971F-11Europa IIsatellite mockup[3]
224 December 1979L-1Ariane 1CAT-1 [4]
323 May 1980L-2Firewheel Subsat-1,2,3,4
Amsat P3A
CAT 2
419 June 1981L-3Meteosat 2
Apple
CAT 3
520 December 1981L-4MARECS 1
CAT 4
69 September 1982L-5MARECS B
Sirio 2
716 June 1983L-6ECS 1
Amsat P3B (Oscar 10)
819 October 1983L-7Intelsat 507
95 March 1984L-8Intelsat 508[5]
1023 May 1984V-9Spacenet F1
114 August 1984V-10Ariane 3Eutelsat 2
Telecom 1A
[6]
1210 November 1984V-11Spacenet F2
MARECS 2
138 February 1985V-12Arabsat-1A
Brasilsat-A1
148 May 1985V-13GStar 1
Télécom 1B
152 July 1985V-14Ariane 1Giotto
1612 September 1985V-15Ariane 3Spacenet 3
ECS 3
[7]
1722 February 1986V-16Ariane 1SPOT 1
Viking
Flight V-17 (Ariane 3) was the first flight to launch from ELA-2 on 28 March 1986
1831 May 1986V-18Ariane 2Intelsat VA F-14[8]
1916 September 1987V-19Ariane 3Aussat A3
ECS 4
Flight V-20 (Ariane 2) launched from ELA-2 on 20 November 1987
2011 March 1988V-21Ariane 3Spacenet 3R
Telecom 1C
Flight V-22 (Maiden flight Ariane 4) launched from ELA-2 on 15 June 1988
2117 May 1988V-23Ariane 2Intelsat VA F-13
2221 July 1988V-24Ariane 3INSAT-1C
ECS 5
Flight V-25 (Ariane 3) launched from ELA-2 on 8 September 1988
2328 October 1988V-26Ariane 2TDF 1
2427 January 1989V-28Intelsat VA F-15
252 April 1989V-30Tele-X
2611 July 1989V-32Ariane 3Olympus-1
Flights V27, V29 and V31 were launched from ELA-2. V27, V29 and V31 were all operated by Ariane 4[9]
From July 1989 until February 2012, no rockets were launched from ELA-1. As an alternative, ELA-2 and ELA-3 were used.
In November 2001, construction works started to prepare the pad for the lightweight Vega rocket.
2713 February 2012VV-01Vega [10]
287 May 2013VV-02
2930 April 2014VV-03KazEOSat 1
30 11 February 2015
31 23 June 2015
32 3 December 2015
33 16 September 2016 PeruSat-1
4 Terra Bella satellites
34 5 December 2016 Göktürk-1A
35 9 March 2017
36 2 August 2017
37 8 November 2017 2 MN35-13 satellites
38 22 August 2018
39 21 November 2018
40 22 March 2019
41 11 July 2019
42 03 September 2020
  • Athena
  • ESAIL
  • GHGSat-C1
  • NEMO-HD
  • ÑuSat 6
  • UPM-Sat 2
  • ION CubeSat Carrier
  • Flock-4v × 26 (cubesats)
  • AMICal Sat (cubesat)
  • DIDO-3 (cubesat)
  • FSSCat /A and /B (cubesats)
  • Lemur-2 × 8 (cubesats)
  • OSM-1 Cicero (cubesat)
  • NAPA-1 (cubesat)
  • PICASSO (cubesat)
  • SIMBA (cubesat)
  • SpaceBEE × 12 (cubesats)
  • TARS-1 (cubesat)
  • TRISAT (cubesat)
  • TTÜ-100 (cubesat)
  • Tyvak 0171 (cubesat)
43 17 November 2020
44 29 April 2021
  • Pléiades Neo 3
  • NorSat-3
  • Bravo (cubesat)
  • ELO Alpha (cubesat)
  • Lemur-2 × 2 (cubesats)
45 17 August 2021
  • Pléiades Neo 4
  • BRO-4 (cubesat)
  • LEDSAT (cubesat)
  • RADCUBE (cubesat)
  • SUNSTORM (cubesats)
46 16 November 2021 CERES × 3
47 13 July 2022
  • LARES 2
  • ALPHA (cubesat)
  • AstroBio CubeSat (cubesat)
  • CELESTA (cubesat)
  • GreenCube (cubesat)
  • MTCube-2 (cubesat)
  • TRISAT-R (cubesat)
[11]
48 21 December 2022 [12]
49 9 October 2023
  • THEOS-2
  • TRITON
  • ANSER × 3 (cubesats)
  • CSC × 2 (cubesats)
  • ESTCube-2 (cubesat)
  • MACSAT (cubesat)
  • N3SS (cubesat)
  • PRETTY (cubesat)
  • PVCC (cubesat)
[13]
Situation on 10 October 2023

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BEC, ELA, ELV, d'EUROPA à VEGA. 2018-08-23. Capcomespace.
  2. Web site: Operations. 2015-12-31. Arianespace.
  3. Web site: Europa. Encyclopedia Astronautica. 2015-12-31. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000914/http://www.astronautix.com/fam/europa.htm. 2016-03-04.
  4. Web site: Ariane 1. Encyclopedia Astronautica. 2022-12-10.
  5. Web site: Kourou ELA 1. Encyclopedia Astronautica. 2015-12-31. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000301/http://www.astronautix.com/sites/kouuela1.htm. 2016-03-04.
  6. Web site: Ariane 3. Encyclopedia Astronautica. 2022-12-10.
  7. Book: Harvey, Brian. Europe's Space Programme: To Ariane and Beyond. Book Springer Science & Business Media. February 14, 2003. 358–361. List of European space launchings. 978-1-85233-722-3.
  8. Web site: Ariane 2. Encyclopedia Astronautica. 2022-12-10.
  9. Web site: Kourou ELA-2. Encyclopedia Astronautica. 2015-12-31. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100201090427/http://astronautix.com/sites/kouuela2.htm. 2010-02-01.
  10. Web site: Vega Milestones. Arianespace. 2015-12-31.
  11. Web site: Atkinson . Ian . ESA launches upgraded Vega-C rocket on first mission . . 13 July 2022 . 13 July 2022.
  12. Web site: Clark . Stephen . Two Pléiades Neo Earth-imaging satellites lost in failure of Europe's Vega C rocket . Spaceflight Now . 21 December 2022 . 21 December 2022.
  13. Flight VV23: success to the benefit of Thaland, Taiwan and cubesats . 9 October 2023 . 10 October 2023 . Arianespace.