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ELA-1

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Ensemble de Lancement Vega
Vega Launch Area
ELV launch pad in 2017
Map
Launch siteGuiana Space Centre
Location5°14′10″N 52°46′30″W / 5.236°N 52.775°W / 5.236; -52.775
Time zoneUTC−03 (GFT)
Short nameELV
OperatorArianespace · ESA
Total launches
Launch history
StatusActive
First launch5 November 1971
Europa II (STV-4)
Last launch5 December 2024
Vega C (Sentinel-1C)
Associated
rockets		Active: Vega C
Retired: Europa II, Ariane 1, Ariane 2, Ariane 3, Vega

ELV (French: Ensemble de Lancement Vega, lit. 'Vega Launch Complex') is a launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana supporting launches of the Vega and Vega C rockets. It was first built in November 1971 and was previously used to support launches of the Europa, Ariane 1 and Ariane 3 rockets.

History

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Europa (BEC)

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ELA-1, at the time designated BEC (French: Base Équatoriale du CECLES, lit. 'CECLES Equatorial Base') 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)

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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 BEC, re-designated as ELA (French: Ensemble de Ariane, lit. 'Ariane Launch Complex'). 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)

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In November 2001, started the redevelopment of the pad to accommodate the Vega rocket and the ELA-1 was redesignated ELV.[1] 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.[2]

Launch History

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N° Date Flight Launcher Payload Result References
1 5 November 1971 F-11 Europa II satellite mockup Failure [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 9 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]
30 11 February 2015 VV-04 IVX Success [10]
31 23 June 2015 VV-05 Sentinel-2A Success [10]
32 3 December 2015 VV-06 LISA Pathfinder Success [10]
33 16 September 2016 VV-07 PeruSat-1
4 Terra Bella satellites		 Success [10]
34 5 December 2016 VV-08 Göktürk-1A Success [10]
35 9 March 2017 VV-09 Sentinel-2B Success [10]
36 2 August 2017 VV-10 OPTSAT-3000
VENμS		 Success
37 8 November 2017 VV-11 2 MN35-13 satellites Success
38 22 August 2018 VV-12 ADM-Aeolus Success
39 21 November 2018 VV-13 Mohammed VI-B Success
40 22 March 2019 VV-14 PRISMA Success
41 11 July 2019 VV-15 FalconEye 1 Failure
42 03 September 2020 VV-16 Success
43 17 November 2020 VV-17 Failure
44 29 April 2021 VV-18 Success
45 17 August 2021 VV-19
  • Pléiades Neo 4
  • BRO-4 (cubesat)
  • LEDSAT (cubesat)
  • RADCUBE (cubesat)
  • SUNSTORM (cubesats)
 Success
46 16 November 2021 VV-20

CERES × 3

Success
47 13 July 2022 VV-21 Vega-C
  • LARES 2
  • ALPHA (cubesat)
  • AstroBio CubeSat (cubesat)
  • CELESTA (cubesat)
  • GreenCube (cubesat)
  • MTCube-2 (cubesat)
  • TRISAT-R (cubesat)
 Success [11]
48 21 December 2022 VV-22 Pléiades Neo 5 & 6 Failure [12]
49 9 October 2023 VV-23 Vega
  • 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

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References

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  1. ^ "BEC, ELA, ELV, d'EUROPA à VEGA". Capcomespace. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Operations". Arianespace. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  3. ^ "Europa". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Ariane 1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Kourou ELA 1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Ariane 3". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 978-1-85233-722-3.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Kourou ELA-2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 1 February 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Ariane 2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i "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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