ELA-1

Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 1 / Ensemble de Lancement Vega

Launch site	Guiana Space Centre
Location	5°14′10″N 52°46′30″W / 5.236°N 52.775°W
Short name	CECLES, ELA-1, ELV
Operator	European Space Agency CNES
Total launches	32 1 Europa 11 Ariane 1 5 Ariane 2 9 Ariane 3 6 Vega
Launch pad(s)	One
Launch history Status Active First launch 5 November 1971 Europa II / STV-4 Last launch 3 December 2015 Vega / LISA Pathfinder Associated rockets Europa II Ariane 1 Ariane 2 Ariane 3 Vega (active)

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

History

Europa (CECLES)

ELA-1, at the time designated CECLES 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, or ELA for short. 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 (SLV)

A new launch pad built at ELA-1 and designated Site de Lancement Vega, or SLV, was constructed for the Vega rocket. Vega made its first launch from the complex on 13 February 2012.

Launch History

N°	Date	Flight	Launcher	Payload	Result	References
1	November 5, 1971	F-11	Europa 2	satellite mockup	Failure	[2]
2	December 24, 1979	L-1	Ariane 1	CAT-1	Success	[3]
3	May 23, 1980	L-2		Firewheel Subsat-1,2,3,4 Amsat P3A CAT 2	Failure	[3]
4	June 19, 1981	L-3		Meteosat 2 Apple CAT 3	Success	[3]
5	December 20, 1981	L-4		MARECS 1 CAT 4	Success	[3]
6	September 10, 1982	L-5		MARECS B Sirio 2	Failure	[3]
7	June 16, 1983	L-6		ECS 1 Amsat P3B (Oscar 10)	Success	[3]
8	October 19, 1983	L-7		Intelsat 507	Success	[3]
9	March 5, 1984	L-8		Intelsat 508	Success	[3][4]
10	May 23, 1984	V-9		Spacenet F1	Success	[3][4]
11	August 4, 1984	V-10	Ariane 3	Eutelsat 2 Telecom 1A	Success	[4][5]
12	November 10, 1984	V-11		Spacenet F2 MARECS 2	Success	[4][5]
13	February 8, 1985	V-12		Arabsat 1A Brasilsat A1	Success	[4][5]
14	May 8, 1985	V-13		GStar 1 Télécom 1B	Success	[4][5]
15	July 2, 1985	V-14	Ariane 1	Giotto	Success	[3][4]
16	September 12, 1985	V-15	Ariane 3	Spacenet 3 ECS 3	Failure	[4][5][6]
17	February 22, 1986	V-16	Ariane 1	SPOT 1 Viking	Success	[3][4][6]
Flight V-17 (Ariane 3) was the first flight to launch from ELA-2 on 28 March 1986 [5][7]
18	May 31, 1986	V-18	Ariane 2	Intelsat V-A F 14	Failure	[4][6][8]
19	September 16, 1987	V-19	Ariane 3	Aussat A3 ECS 4	Success	[4][5][6]
Flight V-20 (Ariane 2) launched from ELA-2 on 20 November 1987 [6][7][8]
20	March 11, 1988	V-21	Ariane 3	Spacenet 3R Télécom 1C	Success	[4][5][6]
Flight V-22 (Maiden flight Ariane 4) launched from ELA-2 on 15 June 1988 [4][6][7]
21	May 17, 1988	V-23	Ariane 2	Intelsat V-A F 13	Success	[4][6][8]
22	July 21, 1988	V-24	Ariane 3	Insat 1C ECS 5	Success	[4][5][6]
Flight V-25 (Ariane 3) launched from ELA-2 on 8 September 1988 [5][6][7]
23	October 28, 1988	V-26	Ariane 2	TDF 1	Success	[4][6][8]
24	January 27, 1989	V-28		Intelsat V-A F 15	Success	[4][6][8]
25	April 2, 1989	V-30		Tele-X	Success	[4][6][8]
26	July 11, 1989	V-32	Ariane 3	Olympus 1	Success	[4][5][6]
Flights V27, V29 and V31 were launched from ELA-2. V27, V29 and V31 were all operated by Ariane 4 rockets[7]
From July 1989 until February 2012, no rockets were launched from ELA-1. As an alternative, ELA-2 and ELA-3 were used. Meanwhile, construction works were under way 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	[9]
28	7 May 2013	VV-02		Proba V VNREDSat 1A ESTCube-1	Success	[9]
29	30 April 2014	VV-03		KazEOSat-1	Success	[9]
30	11 February 2015	VV-04		IVX	Success	[9]
31	23 June 2015	VV-05		Sentinel-2A	Success	[9]
32	3 December 2015	VV-06		LISA Pathfinder	Success	[9]

Situation on 31 December 2015

See also

• Ariane 1
• Ariane 2
• Ariane 3
• Ariane (rocket family)
• Europa
• Vega
• ELA-2
• Guiana Space Centre

External links

• Encyclopedia Astronautica - Kourou

References

1. "Operations". Arianespace. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
2. "Europa". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
3. "Ariane 1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
4. "Kourou ELA 1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
5. "Ariane 3". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
6. 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.
7. "Kourou ELA-2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
8. "Ariane 2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
9. "Vega Milestones". Arianespace. Retrieved 2015-12-31.