A difficult implementation
Europe's Spaceport is the second most visited site in French Guiana. An economic powerhouse for some, a "state within a state" for others, or a veritable ecological aberration, the Space Center still inspires rather ambivalent feelings today, ranging from enthusiasm to rejection to mistrust. Expropriation procedures during infrastructure construction have often bordered on the intolerable, even if efforts are now being made to compensate for these errors. And the CSG's importance to the country shows no signs of diminishing: the new European launchers Ariane 6 and Vega-C, and its openness to new launch operators, suggest that the space adventure will continue for many years to come.
But let's look back for a moment at the history of the Guiana Space Center (CSG). If it hadn't been for the Algerian war, Kourou would probably never have experienced this adventure. Indeed, when the Evian Agreements were signed in 1962, France found itself obliged to look for a new launch site to replace the one it had just abandoned in the middle of the Algerian Sahara. The choice of a new site was a very delicate affair, since it would commit the country for many years to come, and would involve gigantic works. The selection parameters are of several kinds.
Geographical and climatic considerations... First and foremost, the site must be located as close as possible to the equator, to enable more economical launches. In fact, it's from this position that the satellite can reach its final orbit with minimum fuel consumption, ensuring a longer life. In addition to the problem of latitude, it is also essential to select a site that is geographically stable to avoid earthquakes and that is not a cyclone zone. The demographic issue also had to be taken into account: despite all the precautions that can be taken, a launch presents risks. It was therefore out of the question to locate a launch center near an area with a high population density or concentration of economic activity.
And political lessons! The last but not least parameter is political. The Algerian experience served as a lesson: France could not afford to set up a new center in a territory that risked losing its control as a result of independence movements. Taking each of these imperatives into account, General de Gaulle finally decided in 1964 that the center would be set up in Kourou, in French Guiana. An ideal latitude, very stable soil, a hurricane-free climate and low population density were all factors in favor of this choice. 90,000 hectares were requisitioned from the soil of "American France", under conditions that were sometimes traumatic for the Creole and Amerindian populations. Within a few months, the Fusée-Sonde site, the first launch zone, would see the light of day. But the construction of the center itself would pale into insignificance beside the gigantic development and urbanization works to come. Roads, bridges, buildings, hospitals and schools are springing up like mushrooms, profoundly changing the face of this traditional little town.
Well-defined missions
If there's any doubt, let's get it out in the open: in this center, there are only launchers sending commercial satellites, no humans.
And the main missions of the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) are: to ensure the organization and general coordination of the operational activities of the Communauté Industrielle Spatiale de Guyane (CISG : organization grouping together all the industrialists directly involved in Guiana in the development, production and export of space transportation systems, i.e. CNES, Arianespace and four other companies); to acquire and process launch-related measurements; to ensure the protection of people, property and the environment during operations of a hazardous nature and during launches; to provide the logistical support required for the preparation of launchers and payloads. But that's not all!
CNES also defines and implements safety and protection measures for all persons and installations dependent on the center, as well as those of launchers, payloads and associated equipment present in French Guiana; adapts the center to the missions inherent in new French and European projects such as Ariane 6 and Vega-C; and tracks and locates satellites on behalf of CNES networks and the European Space Agency (ESA: intergovernmental organization created in 1975 to develop Europe's space capabilities). CNES is also the landowner of the entire space site in French Guiana, and contributes to the development of the region alongside local elected representatives and public partners.
The CSG provides launchers and satellites with all the technical and logisticalresources they need for preparation and launch. To this end, the CSG provides its customers with : the Jupiter control center, which coordinates all the resources deployed during the launch, and ensures in-flight monitoring; telemetry reception stations in French Guiana, supplemented for launches to the east by stations near Natal (Brazil), Ascension Island (UK), Libreville (Gabon) and Malindi (Kenya), which record data transmitted by radar during the flight, enabling the launcher's trajectory to be plotted and providing the information needed for back-up and satellite diagnostics; and finally, a meteorological station which provides real-time data on wind direction and speed (on the ground and aloft) and lightning risks (these two criteria, if not optimal, can lead to a postponement of the launch).
From Veronique to Ariane 6, the European space epic
In the early days of launches. The first French space experiments were carried out in the Saharan desert of Algeria. Following the country's independence, French Guiana was chosen as the site for a new launch base in April 1964. On April 9, 1968, the CSG inaugurated its first launch, with the Véronique rocket and the launch of nine rockets under the Diamant program. This was followed by the launch of the Europa program, intended to embody the beginnings of European collaboration in space. This heavy, low-performance launcher was a resounding failure for the European space community, with its first and only launch on November 5, 1971. Some even agree that Europa could have sounded the death knell of this epic, had another program not quickly seen the light of day: Ariane.
The Ariane epic. It was on Christmas Eve 1979 that Ariane set off into space for the first time. After Ariane 1, the Ariane 2 (1984) and Ariane 3 (1986) launchers carried out several missions with varying degrees of success. It wasn't until the launch of Ariane 4 in June 1988 that spectacular progress was made. This version of the Ariane launcher has the major advantage of being scalable according to the load carried, being able to put into orbit one or two satellites weighing a total of 4.7 tonnes. In the space of 24 years, of the 116 Ariane 4 launches and 183 satellites launched, only two have failed. The CSG became the world's most important launch site. But competition from Russia, China and the USA was fierce, and to meet the changing needs of users, but also to consolidate European supremacy, a new launcher, Ariane 5, was launched in mid-1996.
More squat-looking than its predecessor, it is more powerful and more economical. Its payload capacity now exceeds 6 tonnes, enabling several large satellites to be launched simultaneously. Implementation of the Ariane 5 program led to the construction of a plant to manufacture the propellant needed to power the launcher. On June 4, 1996, the first Ariane 5 launch was a failure. The third attempt, in 1998, proved successful, and in December of the following year, Ariane 5 made its very first commercial flight. From then on, Arianespace took over production and commercial operation of the launcher. Although the attempt to launch a 10-ton payload into orbit in 2002 was unsuccessful, the successful launch of the ATV Jules Verne on March 9, 2008 set a new record, with a mass of 20 tons in orbit!
Other launchers. In 2011, Europe acquires two other launchers. The Vega light launcher is designed to place payloads of up to 1.5 tonnes into polar orbit. Its first launch took place on February 13, 2012, and for the next ten years it will carry out one or two launches a year. The medium Soyuz is a Russian launcher with a payload capacity of around 3.5 tonnes. These facilities are located on the base's premises. The first Soyuz lifted off on October 20, 2011, and numerous launches took place throughout the contract period, but the war in Ukraine brought the last scheduled launches to a premature halt. Soyuz took off for the last time in 2022, with 27 launches to its credit. Vega will give way to Vega-C in 2024.
So, whereas there was around one launch per month for all rockets in the boom years, there were "only" 3 in 2023 (2 Ariane 5 and 1 Vega). In fact, the CSG experienced a drop in activity with the cessation of Soyuz launches and the last Ariane 5 launch on July 5, 2023. The CSG took advantage of this period to modernize and prepare to welcome new launchers, alongside Ariane 6 and Vega-C.
For its last launch, Ariane 5 carried two satellites (one French and one German) into geostationary orbit 36,000 km from the Earth. This 117th launch, the last in Ariane 5's history, marked the end of its 27-year existence, marked by more than 80 consecutive successes, including the launch of the American James Webb telescope at the end of 2021. A launch that turned the eyes of the world on CSG and French Guiana. It was now time to make way for its successor, and with the successful first launch of Ariane 6 on July 9, 2024, the CSG is ready to pick up the pace.
Towards Ariane 6 and the future of the CSG. The next step was already in the pipeline: on December 2, 2014, a major agreement was signed between the member states of the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket. This new launcher, whose first launch, originally scheduled for 2020, will not actually take place until 2024 (due to the Covid-19 pandemic and development difficulties), will be less expensive and should enable Europe to stay in the space race against competition from China's Longue Marche and Elon Musk's SpaceX.
The main reason for switching to Ariane 6 is financial: the new launcher is designed to be more economical and flexible than its predecessor, with an estimated production cost of 100 million euros per launch, compared with 200 million euros for Ariane 5. Sending a satellite will thus cost much less than before, between €10 and €12 per kilogram, in line with SpaceX's price (the Americans are currently the most competitive). What's more, we'll be able to send more payloads, and take them to different orbits.
The Guiana Space Center therefore seems to have many more good days ahead of it, thanks to its new Ariane 6 project, which will take over from 2024, first with an inaugural flight in July, then a second before the end of the year, before ramping up in 2025 and then reaching a cruising speed of ten launches a year. France is pulling out all the stops on this project, as symbolized by President Emmanuel Macron's visit to the CSG in February 2024, and above all by the arrival of the final stages the following month. These elements are being transported from Europe by the Canopée, the very first sail-powered cargo ship designed to guarantee shipping without greenhouse gas emissions.
But at the dawn of this new space epic, many questions remain unanswered. Will this be enough in the face of a rapidly evolving space market, particularly with its new innovative players who are not held back by the inertia of the cooperation of some twenty states? SpaceX's new Falcon reusable launchers, for example, are likely to further consolidate the supremacy of the American company... Will the Vega-C launcher, which was declared a commercial failure in 2022, be able to return to service in 2025? And above all, shouldn't regulations be introduced in the years to come, at a time when this conquest seems to be in total opposition to the climatic and ecological constraints that will eventually impose themselves willy-nilly in the decades to come?
The first Ariane 6 launch. After years of mobilizing various teams to carry out system tests for the development and qualification of Ariane 6, a small number of them were able to meet up in the famous command bunker on July 9, 2024, the date of Ariane 6's historic launch.
At 20:00 local time (22:00 UTC), the launcher made its maiden flight from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou,
carrying a payload of 2 metric tons, including a mass simulator equivalent to two double launches of Galileo satellites, eight small satellites, five scientific experiments and two re-entry capsules. The launcher reached its maximum altitude of 1,500 km and placed its payload in sun-synchronous orbit. The launch was considered a success, despite a technical anomaly at the end of the mission.
A trajectory deviation was detected at the end of the mission, preventing the launcher's second stage from re-entering the atmosphere and releasing the two capsules as planned. According to project managers, an auxiliary power unit (APU) accidentally shut down, preventing the system from restarting the Vinci engine for the third time. Despite this anomaly, the project teams consider the launch a success, as the launcher achieved its main objectives, namely putting satellites into orbit and igniting its Vinci engine after switching it off. Project managers have announced that it will take a few weeks to analyze the data and understand why the APU system shut down.
Visit of the CSG
Whether or not you're a high-tech and/or space enthusiast, the guided tour of the Guiana Space Center (CSG), which lasts around 4 hours, is fun, informative and free of charge, attracting over 22,000 visitors a year. With a surface area of around 660 km², the majority of which is vegetation (only 10% of the site is occupied by buildings), it's aboard a comfortable bus and accompanied by a guide that you'll criss-cross the vast expanses separating the various launch zones for the Ariane, Soyuz and Vega rockets. If the schedule permits, the bus can even park at the foot of the launch pads. After a stopover at the Ariane 5 and 6 launch centers, where, in a cabin overlooking the control room, you can learn more about the components that make up a rocket and how a launch unfolds to the second, the tour ends in the famous Jupiter room, the main control center at CSG.
The tour is very interesting, with plenty of opportunity to ask the guide any questions you may have, and you'll learn, for example, that the weight of the satellites sent up generally represents only 1% of the launcher's total weight, the rest being made up of propellants (the substance used to provide the rocket's energy, accounting for 90% of the total mass), with the structure making up the remaining 9%. Or that the speed the satellite must reach on separation from the launcher to avoid falling back to Earth is 7.8 km/s. And last but not least, more than 50% of the payloads launched from the CSG are telecommunications satellites.
Cosmo-curious visitors can round off their tour with a visit to the Guyaspace Experience (formerly the Space Museum). It reopened its doors on July 26, 2024 after 18 months of renovation work. The CSG also offers a tour of its natural areas to appreciate the flora and fauna: truly preserved places because, as is pointed out during the tour, "The human society of the CSG is resolutely committed to winning space without losing earth". Visits must be booked in advance, and you must show proof of identity. Guyaspace Experience can be visited without reservation, with tickets purchased on site. Online ticketing is also available.
