ELA-1

ELA-1, short for Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 1 (French for Ariane Launch Area 1), now named Ensemble de Lancement Vega (short ELV), is a launch pad at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana. It has been used to support launches of the Europa rocket, Ariane 1, Ariane 3, and is currently used to launch Vega rockets.[1]

Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 1 / Ensemble de Lancement Vega
Vega rocket on launch pad before the launch of Sentinel-2A in June 2015
Launch siteGuiana Space Centre
Location5.236°N 52.775°W / 5.236; -52.775
Short nameCECLES, ELA-1, ELV
OperatorEuropean Space Agency
CNES
Total launches41
1 Europa
11 Ariane 1
5 Ariane 2
9 Ariane 3
15 Vega
Launch history
StatusActive
First launch5 November 1971
Europa II / STV-4
Last launchActive
Associated
rockets		Europa II
Ariane 1
Ariane 2
Ariane 3
Vega (active)

History

Europa (BEC)

ELA-1, at the time designated Base Équatoriale du CECLES (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 CECLES pad. This was designated Ensemble de Lancement Ariane (ELA). The first Ariane 1 launch occurred on 24 December 1979. ELA was also used by Ariane 2 and 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 Ensemble de Lancement Vega (ELV).[2] The reconstruction retained the Ariane 1 flame trench and added a new 50m tall retractable vertical assembly building to cover 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.

Launch History
N° Date Flight Launcher Payload Result References
1November 5, 1971 F-11Europa 2satellite mockupFailure[3]
2 December 24, 1979 L-1 Ariane 1 CAT-1 Success [4]
3 May 23, 1980 L-2 Firewheel Subsat-1,2,3,4
Amsat P3A
CAT 2		 Failure [4]
4 June 19, 1981 L-3 Meteosat 2
Apple
CAT 3		 Success[4]
5 December 20, 1981 L-4 MARECS 1
CAT 4		 Success[4]
6 September 10, 1982 L-5 MARECS B
Sirio 2		 Failure[4]
7 June 16, 1983 L-6 ECS 1
Amsat P3B (Oscar 10)		 Success[4]
8 October 19, 1983 L-7 Intelsat 507 Success[4]
9 March 5, 1984 L-8 Intelsat 508 Success[4][5]
10 May 23, 1984 V-9 Spacenet F1 Success[4][5]
11 August 4, 1984 V-10 Ariane 3 Eutelsat 2
Telecom 1A		 Success[5][6]
12 November 10, 1984 V-11 Spacenet F2
MARECS 2		 Success[5][6]
13 February 8, 1985 V-12 Arabsat 1A
Brasilsat A1		 Success[5][6]
14 May 8, 1985 V-13 GStar 1
Télécom 1B		 Success[5][6]
15 July 2, 1985 V-14 Ariane 1 Giotto Success[4][5]
16 September 12, 1985 V-15 Ariane 3 Spacenet 3
ECS 3		 Failure[5][6][7]
17 February 22, 1986 V-16 Ariane 1 SPOT 1
Viking		 Success[4][5][7]
Flight V-17 (Ariane 3) was the first flight to launch from ELA-2 on 28 March 1986 [6][8]
18 May 31, 1986 V-18 Ariane 2 Intelsat V-A F 14 Failure[5][7][9]
19 September 16, 1987 V-19 Ariane 3 Aussat A3
ECS 4		 Success[5][6][7]
Flight V-20 (Ariane 2) launched from ELA-2 on 20 November 1987 [7][8][9]
20 March 11, 1988 V-21 Ariane 3 Spacenet 3R
Télécom 1C		 Success[5][6][7]
Flight V-22 (Maiden flight Ariane 4) launched from ELA-2 on 15 June 1988 [5][7][8]
21 May 17, 1988 V-23 Ariane 2 Intelsat V-A F 13 Success[5][7][9]
22 July 21, 1988 V-24 Ariane 3 Insat 1C
ECS 5		 Success[5][6][7]
Flight V-25 (Ariane 3) launched from ELA-2 on 8 September 1988 [6][7][8]
23 October 28, 1988 V-26 Ariane 2 TDF 1 Success[5][7][9]
24 January 27, 1989 V-28 Intelsat V-A F 15 Success[5][7][9]
25 April 2, 1989 V-30 Tele-X Success[5][7][9]
26 July 11, 1989 V-32 Ariane 3 Olympus 1 Success[5][6][7]
Flights V27, V29 and V31 were launched from ELA-2. V27, V29 and V31 were all operated by Ariane 4 rockets[8]
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.
27 13 February 2012 VV-01 Vega
  • Lares
  • XaTcobeo (cubesat)
  • e-st@r (cubesat)
  • ROBUSTA (cubesat)
  • MaSat-1 (cubesat)
  • Goliat (cubesat)
  • PW-Sat-1 (cubesat)
  • UNICubeSat-GG (cubesat)
 Success[10]
28 7 May 2013 VV-02
  • Proba V
  • VNREDSat 1A
  • ESTCube-1
 Success [10]
29 30 April 2014 VV-03 KazEOSat-1 Success [10]
3011 February 2015VV-04IVXSuccess[10]
3123 June 2015VV-05Sentinel-2ASuccess[10]
323 December 2015VV-06LISA PathfinderSuccess[10]
3316 September 2016VV-07PeruSat-1 /
4 Terra Bella satellites		Success[10]
345 December 2016VV-08Göktürk-1ASuccess[10]
359 March 2017VV-09Sentinel-2BSuccess[10]
362 August 2017VV-10OPTSAT-3000
VENµS		Success
378 November 2017VV-112 MN35-13 satellitesSuccess
3822 August 2018VV-12ADM-AeolusSuccess
3921 November 2018VV-13Mohammed VI-BSuccess
4022 March 2019VV-14PRISMASuccess
4111 July 2019VV-15Falcon Eye 1Failure

Situation on 28 November 2019

See also

References
  1. "Operations". Arianespace. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  2. "BEC, ELA, ELV, d'EUROPA à VEGA" (in French). Capcomespace. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
  3. "Europa". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  4. "Ariane 1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  5. "Kourou ELA 1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  6. "Ariane 3". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  7. Harvey, Brian (February 14, 2003). "List of European space launchings". Europe's Space Programme: To Ariane and Beyond. Book Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 358–361. ISBN 978-1-852-33722-3.
  8. "Kourou ELA-2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2010-02-01. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  9. "Ariane 2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  10. "Vega Milestones". Arianespace. Retrieved 2015-12-31.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.