ELA-1

Ensemble de Lancement Vega
Vega Launch Area
	ELV launch pad in 2017
Launch site	Guiana Space Centre
Location	5°14′10″N 52°46′30″W / 5.236°N 52.775°W
Time zone	UTC−03 (GFT)
Short name	ELV
Operator	Arianespace · ESA
Total launches	53:; 1 Europa II; 11 Ariane 1; 5 Ariane 2; 9 Ariane 3; 22 Vega; 5 Vega C;
Status
Launch history
Status	Active
First launch	5 November 1971; Europa II (STV-4)
Last launch	26 July 2025; Vega C (CO3D × 4 + MicroCarb)
Associated; rockets	Active: Vega C; Retired: Europa II, Ariane 1, Ariane 2, Ariane 3, Vega

Launch Sites at the Guiana Space Centre

4km
2.5miles

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Active pads

Inactive tenanted pads

Inactive untenanted pads

1

ELFS

2

ELM

3

ELV

4

ELA-2

5

ELA-3

6

ELA-4

7

ELS

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

Europa (BEC)

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)

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)

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

1

2

3

4

1971

1975

1980

1985

1990

2010

2015

2020

2025

As BEC and ELA-1

No.	Date	Time (UTC)	Launch vehicle	Payload	Result	Remarks
1	5 November 1971	13:00	Europa II	Boilerplate payload	Failure	Only launch of the Europa II. Reverse of guidance signals caused third stage failure. First orbital launch attempt from Kourou.
2	24 December 1979	17:14	Ariane 1	CAT-1	Success	Demonstration satellite to test the launch vehicle. Maiden flight of Ariane 1 and of the Ariane family. First successful launch from ELA-1.
3	23 May 1980	14:29	Ariane 1	CAT-2 and secondary payloads	Failure	Combustion instability led to first stage failure and loss of vehicle during launch.
4	19 June 1981	12:32	Ariane 1	CAT-3 and secondary payloads	Success
5	20 December 1981	01:29	Ariane 1	CAT-4 and MARECS 1	Success
6	9 September 1982	02:12	Ariane 1	MARECS B and Sirio 2	Failure	Third stage encountered turbopump failure, leading to loss of vehicle.
7	16 June 1983	11:59	Ariane 1	Eutelsat 1 and Oscar 10	Success
8	19 October 1983	00:45	Ariane 1	Intelsat 507	Success
9	5 March 1984	00:50	Ariane 1	Intelsat 508	Success
10	23 May 1984	01:33	Ariane 1	Spacenet F1	Success
11	4 August 1984	13:32	Ariane 3	Eutelsat 2 and Telecom 1A	Success	Maiden flight of the Ariane 3.
12	10 November 1984	01:14	Ariane 3	Spacenet F2 and MARECS 2	Success
13	8 February 1985	23:22	Ariane 3	Arabsat-1A and Brasilsat-A1	Success
14	8 May 1985	01:15	Ariane 3	GStar 1 and Télécom 1B	Success
15	2 July 1985	11:23	Ariane 1	Giotto	Success	Part of the Halley Armada, tasked with exploring comet 1P/Halley during its 1986 apparition and later explored 26P/Grigg–Skjellerup. First launch from Kourou to go to heliocentric orbit and first ESA spacecraft to visit another celestial body.
16	12 September 1985	23:26	Ariane 3	Spacenet 3 and Eutelsat 3	Failure	Burn into geostationary transfer orbit failed, stranding payloads in low Earth orbit.
17	22 February 1986	01:44	Ariane 1	SPOT 1 and Viking	Success	First satellite operated by Sweden for Viking. Final launch of Ariane 1.
18	31 May 1986	00:53	Ariane 2	Intelsat VA F-14	Failure	Maiden flight of Ariane 2. Third stage failed to ignite.
19	16 September 1987	00:45	Ariane 3	Aussat A3 and Eutelsat 1F4	Success
20	11 March 1988	23:28	Ariane 3	Spacenet 3R and Telecom 1C	Success
21	17 May 1988	23:58	Ariane 2	Intelsat VA F-13	Success
22	21 July 1988	23:12	Ariane 3	Insat 1C and Eutelsat 1F5	Success
23	28 October 1988	02:17	Ariane 2	TDF-1	Success
24	27 January 1989	01:21	Ariane 2	Intelsat VA F-15	Success
25	2 April 1989	02:28	Ariane 2	Tele-X	Success	Final launch of Ariane 2.
26	11 July 1989	00:14	Ariane 3	Olympus-1	Success	Final launch of Ariane 3 and most recent Ariane flight from ELA-1, with subsequent Ariane launches being performed at ELA-2, ELA-3, and ELA-4. Final launch from ELA-1 prior to conversion into ELV.

As ELV

No.	Date	Time (UTC)	Launch vehicle	Payload	Result	Remarks
27	13 February 2012	10:00	Vega	Various payloads	Success	Maiden flight of Vega and first launch from ELV following Ariane 2 and 3's retirement. First non-Ariane orbital launch from Kourou since Europa II in 1971.
28	7 May 2013	02:06	Vega	PROBA-V, VNREDSat 1A, and ESTCube-1	Success
29	30 April 2014	01:35	Vega	KazEOSat 1	Success
30	11 February 2015	13:40	Vega	Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle	Success	Semi-suborbital launch. Test flight of a lifting body vehicle at reentry speeds. Test launch as part of the Future Launchers Preparatory Programme.
31	23 June 2015	01:51	Vega	Sentinel-2A	Success	Part of the Copernicus Programme series of earth observation satellites. First Sentinel launch on Vega and from ELV.
32	3 December 2015	04:04	Vega	LISA Pathfinder	Success	Part of the Horizon 2000 Plus program, aiming to test technologies needed for future use by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna mission. First Vega launch to go beyond low Earth orbit.
33	16 September 2016	01:43	Vega	PeruSat-1 and Terra Bella	Success
34	5 December 2016	13:51	Vega	Göktürk-1A	Success
35	7 March 2017	01:49	Vega	Sentinel-2B	Success	Part of the Copernicus Programme series of earth observation satellites.
36	2 August 2017	01:58	Vega	OPTSAT-3000 and VENμS	Success
37	8 November 2017	01:42	Vega	Mohammed VI-A	Success
38	22 August 2018	21:20	Vega	ADM-Aeolus	Success
39	21 November 2018	01:42	Vega	Mohammed VI-B	Success
40	22 March 2019	01:50	Vega	PRISMA	Success
41	11 July 2019	01:53	Vega	Falcon Eye 1	Failure	Flaw in thermal protection caused second stage failure, leading to loss of vehicle and payload.
42	3 September 2020	01:51	Vega	SSMS PoC Flight	Success
43	17 November 2020	01:52	Vega	SEOSat-Ingenio and TARANIS	Failure	Fourth stage caused deviation in trajectory, leading to failure of placing satellites in orbit.
44	29 April 2021	01:50	Vega	Pléiades Neo 3 and others	Success
45	17 August 2021	01:47	Vega	Pléiades Neo 4 and others	Success
46	16 November 2021	09:27	Vega	CERES 1/2/3	Success
47	13 July 2022	13:13	Vega C	LARES 2 and others	Success	Maiden flight of Vega C.
48	21 December 2022	01:47	Vega C	Pléiades Neo 5 & 6	Failure	Loss of pressure in second stage resulted in loss of launch vehicle and payload.
49	9 October 2023	01:36	Vega	THEOS-2 and others	Success
50	5 September 2024	01:50	Vega	Sentinel-2C	Success	Part of the Copernicus Programme series of earth observation satellites. Final launch of the original Vega launch vehicle.
51	5 December 2024	21:20	Vega C	Sentinel-1C	Success	Part of the Copernicus Programme series of earth observation satellites. First Vega C launch following the failure of VV22.
52	29 April 2025	09:15	Vega C	BIOMASS	Success	Part of the Living Planet Programme, aimed at measuring the biomass of forests across the planet.
53	26 July 2025	02:03	Vega C	CO3D and MicroCarb	Success

References

^ "BEC, ELA, ELV, d'EUROPA à VEGA". Capcomespace. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
^ "Operations". Arianespace. Retrieved 31 December 2015.

External links

Encyclopedia Astronautica – Kourou

[1] "BEC, ELA, ELV, d'EUROPA à VEGA". Capcomespace. Retrieved 23 August 2018.

[2] "Operations". Arianespace. Retrieved 31 December 2015.

[1]

[2]

v t e Guiana Space Centre
Launch sites	ALFS ALD ELA-1 / ELV / CECLES ELA-2 ELA-3 ELA-4 ELS
Rockets	Ariane 1 Ariane 2 Ariane 3 Ariane 4 Ariane 5 Ariane 6 Europa Vega Soyuz-ST
Related	Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre Kourou Station