The Guiana Space Centre (CSG) is poised to write a new chapter in its history as it opens its doors to NewSpace players. Two storied launch sites at Europe’s spaceport are being refurbished to accommodate private European ventures operating small launchers alongside Ariane 6 and Vega-C.
The former Diamant launch site, renamed ELM (for Ensemble de Lancement Multilanceurs in French), will host two- or three-stage launchers designed to place satellites weighing less than 1,500 kilograms into low Earth orbit. A first cohort of four operators have been selected to launch from here: ISAR Aerospace (Germany), RFA (Germany), PLD Space (Spain) and Latitude (France). A fifth laureate, Sirius Space, was selected in June. The former Soyuz launch complex, now ELM2, will accommodate French operator MaiaSpace, which could be joined by another operator at a later stage.
Shared and individual facilities
The terms under which these firms will operate are set out in their development contracts. ELM and ELM2 offer individual facilities for each operator alongside shared facilities developed by CNES, the complex’s owner. The agency has invested several million euros in the project, part of which has come from the government’s France 2030 programme.
“What we mean by shared facilities is the roadways, electric, water, gas and optical fibre utilities, liquid oxygen storage facilities and the command-control system, etc. CNES is also constructing a launch centre from where these shared facilities will be operated. Each private operator will develop its own launch zone, launch pad and assembly building for integrating satellites, as well as its own launch centre.”
- CSG private launcher project leader, CNES
Safety and competitiveness
During launch operations, roles and responsibilities with respect to shared and individual facilities will be assigned according to operating contracts. This will differ somewhat from how things are done for Ariane 6 and Vega-C, for which the launch complexes are operated entirely by Arianespace and Avio. For small launchers and institutional launchers, CNES will operate the launch base’s resources, i.e., radars, telemetry and tracking, and range safety systems. But it will also have responsibility for shared ELM resources, for example managing the liquid oxygen tank and electrical and optical fibre interfaces. Operators will operate their own individual facilities, for example receiving and managing payloads, and assembling and filling launchers.
“At the ELM and the rest of the CSG, CNES is in charge of range safety, i.e., assuring the safety of ground operations and coordinating the activities of the various operators. It’s also tasked with assuring flight safety during the first minutes of flight and aborting a launcher in an emergency. After this critical phase, operators will have access to the global network of ground tracking stations, through a more flexible arrangement. We’ll leave them responsibility for tracking their launchers so they can keep their costs under control.”
- Deputy head of operations and technical facilities sub-directorate at the CSG
Rising to the challenges of NewSpace
This diversification at the CSG reflects the space industry’s move towards a model where production of launchers and satellites is scaling up and launch rates are ramping up as operators seek to gain a competitive edge. Europe’s spaceport offers a number of advantages in this highly competitive global landscape. In particular, its geographic location enables launches in all directions, while good weather means the base is available most of the year. The CSG’s skills base and CNES’s renowned launch expertise are also a strong point that will benefit private European launchers.
This evolution portends a ramp-up in launch activity at the CSG, going from 10 launches per year currently to 40 or more in the future. CNES will organize launch schedules and manage priorities for launchers at the base through its launch manifest. According to the agreement signed with the European Space Agency (ESA), first priority will go to Ariane 6 and Vega-C flights.
“One of the challenges of ramping up the launch rate will be to shorten the turnaround time between launches. The new operations centre will enable us to cut this time from eight days currently to five days. Another challenge will be to ready the CSG to recover launcher stages, which isn’t the case with the current generation of launchers. So the arrival of small launchers marks a real paradigm shift for the base that will boost the economy and employment for French Guiana.”
PLD Space, the first firm to sign a development contract, is scheduled to start launching its Miura 5 vehicle from the ELM launch complex by the end of this year.
Callisto, an experimental passenger for the ELM
In addition to small commercial launchers, the ELM hosts the Callisto reusable first-stage demonstrator on the historic part of the former Diamant launch site. This programme, developed by the Japanese space agency JAXA, the German space agency DLR and CNES, aims to test recovery and reusability technologies. The 13-metre-high vehicle is expected to be launched around ten times and return to the ELM site.
