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 Vega
Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 1
Vega launch pad in 2017
Launch siteCentre Spatial Guyanais
Location5.236°N 52.775°W / 5.236; -52.775
Short nameCECLES, ELA-1, ELV
OperatorEuropean Space Agency
CNES
Total launches49
1 Europa
11 Ariane 1
5 Ariane 2
9 Ariane 3
23 Vega
Launch history
StatusActive
First launch05 November 1971
Europa II / STV-4
Last launch9 October 2023
Vega / THEOS-2, TRITON & Othres
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 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 Ensemble de Lancement Vega (ELV).[2] 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.

Launch History
N° Date Flight Launcher Payload Result References
15 November 1971 F-11Europa 2satellite mockupFailure[3]
2 24 December 1979 L-1 Ariane 1 CAT-1 Success [4]
3 23 May 1980 L-2 Firewheel Subsat-1,2,3,4
Amsat P3A
CAT 2		 Failure [4]
4 19 June 1981 L-3 Meteosat 2
Apple
CAT 3		 Success[4]
5 20 December 1981 L-4 MARECS 1
CAT 4		 Success[4]
6 19 September 1982 L-5 MARECS B
Sirio 2		 Failure[4]
7 16 June 1983 L-6 ECS 1
Amsat P3B (Oscar 10)		 Success[4]
8 19 October 1983 L-7 Intelsat 507 Success[4]
9 5 March 1984 L-8 Intelsat 508 Success[4][5]
10 23 May 1984 V-9 Spacenet F1 Success[4][5]
11 4 August 1984 V-10 Ariane 3 Eutelsat 2
Telecom 1A		 Success[5][6]
12 10 November 1984 V-11 Spacenet F2
MARECS 2		 Success[5][6]
13 8 February 1985 V-12 Arabsat-1A
Brasilsat-A1		 Success[5][6]
14 8 May 1985 V-13 GStar 1
Télécom 1B		 Success[5][6]
15 2 July 1985 V-14 Ariane 1 Giotto Success[4][5]
16 12 September 1985 V-15 Ariane 3 Spacenet 3
ECS 3		 Failure[5][6][7]
17 22 February 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 31 May 1986 V-18 Ariane 2 Intelsat VA F-14 Failure[5][7][9]
19 16 September 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 11 March 1988 V-21 Ariane 3 Spacenet 3R
Telecom 1C		 Success[5][6][7]
Flight V-22 (Maiden flight Ariane 4) launched from ELA-2 on 15 June 1988 [5][7][8]
21 17 May 1988 V-23 Ariane 2 Intelsat VA F-13 Success[5][7][9]
22 21 July 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 28 October 1988 V-26 Ariane 2 TDF 1 Success[5][7][9]
24 27 January 1989 V-28 Intelsat VA F-15 Success[5][7][9]
25 2 April 1989 V-30 Tele-X Success[5][7][9]
26 11 July 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[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 Success[10]
28 7 May 2013 VV-02 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-15FalconEye 1Failure
4203 September 2020VV-16
  • 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)
 Success
4317 November 2020VV-17 Failure
4429 April 2021VV-18 Success
4517 August 2021VV-19
  • Pléiades Neo 4
  • BRO-4 (cubesat)
  • LEDSAT (cubesat)
  • RADCUBE (cubesat)
  • SUNSTORM (cubesats)
 Success
4616 November 2021VV-20

CERES × 3

 Success
4713 July 2022VV-21Vega-C
  • LARES 2
  • ALPHA (cubesat)
  • AstroBio CubeSat (cubesat)
  • CELESTA (cubesat)
  • GreenCube (cubesat)
  • MTCube-2 (cubesat)
  • TRISAT-R (cubesat)
 Success[11]
4821 December 2022VV-22Pléiades Neo 5 & 6Failure[12]
499 October 2023VV-23Vega
  • THEOS-2
  • TRITON
  • ANSER × 3 (cubesats)
  • CSC × 2 (cubesats)
  • ESTCube-2 (cubesat)
  • MACSAT (cubesat)
  • N3SS (cubesat)
  • PRETTY (cubesat)
  • PVCC (cubesat)
 Success[13]

Situation on 10 October 2023

See also

References
  1. "Operations". Arianespace. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  2. "BEC, ELA, ELV, d'EUROPA à VEGA". Capcomespace. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  3. "Europa". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  4. "Ariane 1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  5. "Kourou ELA 1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  6. "Ariane 3". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  7. Harvey, Brian (14 February 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 1 February 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  9. "Ariane 2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  10. "Vega Milestones". Arianespace. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  11. Atkinson, Ian (13 July 2022). "ESA launches upgraded Vega-C rocket on first mission". NASASpaceFlight. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  12. Clark, Stephen (21 December 2022). "Two Pléiades Neo Earth-imaging satellites lost in failure of Europe's Vega C rocket". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  13. "Flight VV23: success to the benefit of Thaland, Taiwan and cubesats". Arianespace (Press release). 9 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
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