Overview of Europe's Spaceport


Kourou Spaceport map
 


Jupiter Control Centre (CDC)
 
Ariane-5 launch control centre
 
Ariane-5 launch control centre at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana

Satellite Preparation Facilities (EPCU S5)
 
EPCU S5
 
The new EPCU S5 Satellite Preparation Facilities, financed by ESA and Arianespace, was finalised in mid 2001. They offer customers one of the most up-to-date satellite complexes in the world.

Booster Engine Test Stand (BEAP)
 
Solid rocket booster test stand BEAP
 
Solid rocket booster test stand (BEAP) at Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana

Booster Integration Building (BIP)
 
Booster Integration Building (BIP)
 
Aerial view of the Booster Integration Building (BIP), the facility for the integration of the Ariane-5 solid booster stage at Europes Spaceport, near Kourou, French Guiana. This 53-m-tall facility receives fully loaded forward booster segments from Italy while the larger central and aft segments are loaded at the nearby Guiana Propellant Plant (UPG). In the BIP, the segments are mated together and the booster's nozzle, and the non-propulsive elements of the booster (nose cone, skirts, avionics) are added. The completed boosters are then transferred to the booster storage building (BSE) where they are kept until the launch campaign begins.

Launcher Integration Building (BIL)
 
EAP arrival to the BIL
 
Ariane 5 booster arrives at the Launcher Integration Building (BIL) during the Ariane 503 campaign.

Ariane-5 is an ESA programme for which ESA delegated management responsibility to CNES.

Launch operations are managed by Arianespace at the ELA-3 launch site at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.



Final Assembly Building (BAF)
 
Composite is installed on the launcher
 
The cylinder-shaped MSG 1 satellite will provide improved global weather data for Europe as a follow-on to the Meteosat spacecraft series, which were launched by Ariane beginning in 1977. MSG 1 is a spin-stabilized platform built by Alcatel Space Industries for a cooperative programme of the European Space Agency and EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites).

Ariane Launch Zone (ZLA)
 
Ariane 5G, atop its mobile launch platform
 
An Ariane 5G, atop its mobile launch platform, leaves the 90-m-tall Final Assembly Building (BAF), where its was mated with its payloads, for a 2.8-km transfer to the Launch Zone (ZL-3) of the Ariane Launch Complex no.3 at Europe's Spaceport on February 25, 2004. On 26 February at 04:36 a.m. Kourou time (07:36 a.m. GMT - 08:36 a.m. CET), Rosetta is scheduled to be launched on board an Ariane-5 launcher from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Vega Launch Zone (ZLV)
 
Artist's view of Vega on the launch pad
 
Artist's view of Vega on the launch pad at Europe's Spaceport in French Guyana.