Space Adventure

A showcase of modernity, the Guiana Space Centre, created in April 1964, stretches along the coast for 50 km between Kourou and Sinnamary and covers a total area of 650 km2, the equivalent of 7 times the size of Paris!

Indeed, the Guyanese coast combines several decisive advantages: its proximity to the equator reinforces the slingshot effect thanks to the maximum rotation speed of the earth, its seafront allows a very wide range of azimuths and therefore orbits, and its location away from cyclonic and seismic zones. In 1973, the French base became Europe's spaceport and, since its first launch in 1968, has successfully increased the number of launches carried out today at the rate of a dozen or a little more per year. The Ariane 5 launcher, soon to be supplemented by Ariane 6, has also been joined by Soyuz and Vega, each launcher having its own facilities, assembly and integration buildings and launch pad.

The CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales), the ESA (European Space Agency), Arianespace and 25 European industrial companies collaborate on the base and directly employ 1,700 people, three-quarters of whom are Guyanese, generating 12% of the jobs on the territory, 16% of the GDP and... and 83% of exports!

Kourou site selection

Following Algeria's independence and the Evian agreements in 1962, the CNES was obliged to leave the Hammaguir launch base in 1967. A total of fourteen sites were studied, located in the overseas departments and in foreign countries such as Brazil and Australia.

What all these sites have in common is that they are close to the equator, which offers the best conditions for spacecraft launches. Indeed, many satellites are geostationary, which implies that their orbit is in the plane of the equator. Starting from the Cape Kennedy base, the satellites pass through a transfer orbit inclined to the equator; correction manoeuvres can cost 15% of the mass put into orbit. The CNES report recommends French Guiana, which offers several advantages such as low population density and a wide opening to the Atlantic Ocean, thus reducing the risks in the event of a problem with the launcher.

The seaboard also makes it possible to launch satellites into polar orbit under optimal conditions. All launch azimuths between -10.5° (polar or sun-synchronous orbits) and +93.5° (geostationary orbits) are possible. In addition, the zone is not subject to earthquakes and cyclones. Moreover, French Guiana, as an integral part of the French territory, also has the advantage of political stability. The Prime Minister of the time, Georges Pompidou, followed these recommendations and on 14 April 1964 passed a ministerial order establishing the Guyana Space Centre in Kourou.

Ariane

When the European Space Agency was created in 1973, France proposed to share Kourou with the new agency. ESA finances two-thirds of the annual budget of the Kourou base and pays for its modernisation when the Ariane launcher series is developed.

Soyuz

The first launch took place on December 24, 1979 with an Ariane 1, with 250 launches by November 26, 2019. Since the mid-1980s, Ariane has been the world leader in the commercial satellite market, with a market share of between 50 and 65%. It is a technical and commercial success story that has been repeated with the Ariane V ECA rocket, which can place 10-tonne satellites in orbit with a recognised reliability rate. Within the framework of a 1996 Russian-European cooperation agreement:

The Russian-European company Starsem was created to market the services of the Soyuz launcher on the international market from the Baikonur cosmodrome.
The European Space Agency will use Soyuz launchers for its own launches (both for launches on its own account and to put payloads into orbit) from the CSG.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos will be able to carry out Soyuz launches from the CSG on its own behalf and will thus benefit from more favourable conditions for geostationary satellite launches than those available to it from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz launch pad is located on the part of the CSG's terrain dependent on the municipality of Sinnamary. The work began in 2005 (2 million hours of work, 1 million cubic metres of earthworks, 35,000 cubic metres of concrete) and requires an investment of 400 million euros. Two-thirds of the cost of the work is co-financed by the European Space Agency and the rest by Arianespace. CNES, assisted by Arianespace, is in charge of project management. The completion of the work and the qualification of the site were much delayed: its completion was scheduled for 2010 and the first launch planned for December 2010. However, the first Soyuz launch was not carried out until October 2011. This extension of the space centre in the municipality of Sinnamary is the pride of its inhabitants, bringing them a substantial gain in their local economy.

Vega

As part of an ESA programme, Arianespace's family of commercial launchers has been expanded by the addition of a Vega light launcher. This rocket, about 30 metres high, can place satellites weighing less than 2 tonnes in low orbit. Vega uses the ELA-1 launch complex, formerly dedicated to the historic Ariane 1 launches. The control room has been reused and the old Ariane 1 launch pad has been renovated for its new operational career.Vega complements Ariane 5, designed to put large geostationary satellites into orbit, and Soyuz, adapted for the launch of medium-sized satellites into low orbit and small geostationary satellites. Italy is the first nation to be involved in the design and construction of the launcher and the role of prime contractor falls to ELV S.p.A, a joint subsidiary of AVIO and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The first qualification flight took place on 13 February 2012. It will be followed by launches at a rate of one to two missions per year.

HAVE A LOOK

Some useful links to find out more about the space adventure in French Guiana :