The earlier facilities

The first launch complex was put to the test on 9 April 1968 with the launch of the Véronique sounding rocket. Neither the Control Room nor the Safety Room were fully completed, which meant that the Director of Operations and the Range Safety Officer were obliged to share the meteorology building.

The sounding-rocket launch complex, set about 7 km from the Technical Centre, included a launch centre, two assembly buildings and four launch pads, the indispensable resources for preparing sounding rockets and for the countdown process.

Sounding-rockets carry several sensors for measuring pressure, temperature, wind speed and the thermodynamic environment to which the rocket is subjected as it travels through the atmosphere. Four hundred and twelve probes (rockets or balloons) were launched from the site between 1968 and 1981.

A total of 16 Super-Arcas rockets were launched from CSG up until 1992 as an integral part of the Ariane launches (particularly after the launch of each new version of Ariane 4).

Super-Loky sounding rockets were also used in the Ariane 5 programmes to give details of wind density and direction at an altitude of 60 km, the separation height for Ariane 5’s two large boosters during qualification flights.

The sounding-rocket launch complex is now used for its offices, workshops and laboratories by the payload preparation (EPCU) teams. At the same time, the site can be loaned to scientific associations or clubs wishing to launch mini-rockets (one example was Garef Aerospatial which launched their Atalante rocket on 13 February 1998).

By 1968, the Diamant launch site was already under construction 4 km from the sounding-rocket site. It was commissioned in 10 March 1970 with the successful launch of the first Diamant-B rocket carrying the German Dial satellite.

The principal innovation on this site was to bring together the launcher assembly building and the assembly tower (linked by an access lock) with the building housing the testing system. The aim was to improve the efficiency of the teams and shorten launcher preparation campaigns.

Access to the erect launch vehicle on the launch pad itself was facilitated by articulated platforms attached to the service tower. The tower and the linking passageway were moved back 50 metres at launch time. One drawback of this design was the greater vulnerability of the buildings and equipment located close to the launch pad.

The Diamant programmes were an undeniable success, with 10 successful launches out of 12 (five of which were launched from CSG). In developing the Diamant launch vehicles CNES acquired valuable experience of launcher technology. It not only enabled many important scientific experiments but also led France to create new launch structures thus becoming the third Space power and the most important contributor to European Space research and development.

The site was decommissioned in 1976 after the Diamant programme had been abandoned. It was brought back into service in December 1998 when a transit station for industrial waste was installed there. Three buildings were taken over for storing Special Industrial Waste (DIS) which is pre-sorted, labelled and prepared before being sent for treatment. The site has also been used for storing Ariane 4 boosters after recovery.

On 8 July 1966, the board of the European Launcher Development Organisation (CECLES) accepted the French proposal to build their equatorial base at Kourou for the Europa II.

For this complex, few changes were made compared to the Diamant launch facilities. Better protection for the ground resources was ensured by locating the stage preparation activities further away from the erection, testing and fuelling activities, that lead up to ignition.

The assembly building was set 100 metres back from the launch pad. The Control Centre was located at a distance, in an armoured building or directly in the launch blockhouse which was partially buried and protected by an embankment, about 250 metres from the launch pad.

This complex was designed in 1973 for Ariane 1, making extensive use of the facilities used for the Europa II launcher. This meant that it was difficult to modify the ELA 1 design at a later stage. The buildings, and in particular the service tower, were adapted for the Ariane 1 launcher.

1975 : start of work to adapt the Europa II site for the Ariane programme.

1978 : delivery of ELA 1. Adaptation was complete, and for the first time a fuelling model (MR) could be erected on the launch site. This full sized model was not intended to fly but to be used for qualifying and certifying the onboard and ground fluids systems.

The site was capable of four or five launches per year with preparation campaigns lasting two months.

ELA 1 was declared certified for operations on 24 December 1979 with the successful launch of Ariane 1 (L01).
ELA 1 remained in operation until the end of the Ariane 3 programme in 1989 and was dismantled in June 1991 after a total of 25 Ariane launches.

When the decision was taken in 1981 to build a new launch complex for the Ariane 3 and especially the Ariane 4 launchers, there were two major priorities: launch rate and flexibility. The new complex was built by CNES on behalf of ESA and for the use of Arianespace, with the requirement that it should be fully adaptable for significant future changes to the Ariane launcher and have a capacity of ten or even twelve launches per year.

Preliminary studies lasted two years and the construction itself, involving 500 people, a little over two more years. The chosen site was 2 km north of the weather station. Operational qualification for ELA 2 was obtained in March 1986 with the launch of an Ariane 3 (V17). After further adaptation to the facilities, the first Ariane 4 was launched successfully on 15 June 1988.

It remained operational until 15 February 2003, the date of the last launch of an Ariane 4 (V159).

Description of the facilities

This launch complex follows an original design: the launch vehicle is no longer assembled at the launch zone but is erected on a mobile table at a preparation zone at some distance from the launch pad. The two zones are linked by a double railway 950 metres long, used to transfer the mobile launch table.

The two zones can therefore be used in parallel by two launch campaigns separated by only three weeks. While one launcher is erected, assembled and subjected to checks at the preparation zone, the preceding launcher, already transferred to the launch zone on the mobile launch table, undergoes its last checking operations before launch.

Preparation zone

The various parts of the launch vehicle are shipped to Guiana by sea from the manufacturers in Europe. They are then transferred by road from the wharves of Pariacabo to the preparation zone at ELA 2.

The zone includes :

• Destocking building
  • Storage for the containers of the stages of the launch vehicle
  • Destocking and visual inspection of launcher elements
• Erection building
  • Vertical arrangement of stages and liquid propulsion boosters
  • Destocking of certain equipment (equipment bays, fairing etc.)
• Assembly building
  • Mechanical integration on the mobile table of the three launcher stages, the liquid propellant boosters, the equipment bay
  • Installation of electrical and fluid connections on the table
  • Installation of the pyrotechnics (except for solid fuel boosters)
  • Inspection of electrics, sealing and motors
  • Pressurisation of fuel tanks.

The average duration of operations at the preparation zone is 15 days.

Transfer zone

The line
The launch vehicle is then transferred from the preparation zone to the launch zone on the mobile table, along the double railway 9 m wide and 950 m long. Halfway along this railway line a turntable supported on an air cushion and a short branch line allow two tables to pass one another.

The mobile launch tables
Two mobile tables, weighing around 500 tonnes, transfer the Ariane 4 launchers. Each launcher is assembled vertically on the launch table. The table is the physical support for the launcher and also serves to attach the electrical and fluid systems to the ground equipment, at both the preparation and launch zones.

Launch zone (ZL 2)

The following operations are performed at the launch zone over a two-week period :

• final inspections of launch vehicle
• erection and inspection of payload (satellite)
• assembly of nosecone and payload
• connection to ground resources, fuelling and fluid filling
• when required, erection of solid fuel boosters
• final launch preparations, countdown and launch.

This zone includes :

• A 12,000-tonne concrete launch bunker on which the launch table is firmly attached. Two flame trenches deflect the thrust of the first stage and the boosters at ignition and lift-off and, in the event of leakage, collect and evacuate the propellant to a reservoir.
• The 80 m service tower weighing some 4000 tonnes. It is the largest European wheeled structure. Together with the umbilical tower it forms a closed area protecting the launcher from bad weather and allowing the whole working environment around the launcher to be air-conditioned. A series of platforms give access to the different levels of the launcher for :
  • installing the payload and the launcher’s nosecone
  • installing and integrating the boosters
  • finalising operations in the equipment bays
  • completing pressurisation operations.
• The umbilical tower. This 74 m tower is set into the bunker 12 m from the launch vehicle and acts as :
  • support for the cryogenic arms that link to the third stage
  • relay for the electrical, fluid and pneumatic links between the launcher and the ground facilities.

Launch centre (CDL 2)

This two-storey armoured building covered with a concrete slab 2 m thick and a 4 m layer of earth serves to shelter equipment and operational personnel until lift-off. Remote monitoring and management of the electrical and fluid circuits are housed here, as well as remote surveillance of the launcher and its environment, in particular during countdown.

Storage

The propellant storage facilities are located at a safe distance from the launch zone and linked to the launch vehicle by a sizeable network of piping. Around 5000 components (gates, valves, pressure gauges etc.) and 20 km of pipeline carry these fluids to their various destinations.