ELA-2

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On the left the mobile assembly tower, in the middle a launch platform, in the background the water tower of ELA 1 and on the right the launch tower

ELA-2 ( E nsembles de L ancement A riane 2 ) was one of the Ariane 4 built rocket launch facility of the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana . All Ariane 4 rockets were launched from the facility, which is designed for up to 20 Ariane 4 launches per year. In practice, however, only a maximum of eleven Ariane 4 rockets were launched per year.

Construction and operation

ELA 2 was specially built for Ariane 4, which is strongly stretched compared to Ariane 1 -3. However, Ariane 2 and 3 rockets could also launch from it, but only if they were on a particularly high mobile launch platform so that the refueling arms of the launch tower could reach the third stage. The ELA 2 launch pad consisted of an assembly building in which the rockets, with the exception of the solid fuel boosters and the payload, were assembled, a track with a switch and siding, on which the rockets, mounted on one of two transportable launch platforms, were driven to the launch site with the launch tower 950 m away and a mobile assembly tower. The siding made it possible to drive a rocket that was already ready for launch away from the launch site so that a later mounted rocket could start first.

After the rocket had reached the launch site, the assembly tower was moved over it, and the payload, which had already been assembled into a unit, consisting of the double launch device with the satellites and the payload fairing , was placed on the third stage. If solid fuel boosters were used for a flight, they were also installed here. The second stage was also refueled in the assembly tower and provided with a foam polystyrene insulation on the outside (the nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer would evaporate at over 21 ° C). Then the mobile assembly tower was moved to the side, the first and third stages of the rocket were refueled and then the rocket was launched; the insulation material of the second stage was thrown off.

The first launch of ELA 2 took place on March 28, 1986 with an Ariane 3, the last with the last flight of Ariane 4 on February 15, 2003. A total of 119 Ariane rockets were launched from ELA-2, including 116 Ariane 4, two Ariane 3 and one Ariane 2.

demolition

After the last start of an Ariane 4 on February 15, 2003, the ELA-2 launch pad was shut down and in 2011 largely demolished. The 80 m high mobile assembly tower made of metal was blown up on September 30, 2011; the resulting scrap was shipped to Europe for reuse or disposal.

literature

  • Bernd Leitenberger: European launchers volume 1. From the diamond to the Ariane 4 - Europe's rocky road in the Orbit Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 3837095916

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ a b Bernd Leitenberger: The History of Ariane 4. Retrieved on October 1, 2011 .
  2. ^ Hans-Martin Fischer: Europe's ARIANE launch vehicle. History and technology for the last start of ARIANE 4 . Stedinger Verlag, Lemwerder 2004, ISBN 3-927697-32-X
  3. ^ Matthias founder: ELA-2 blown up in Kourou. Flugrevue, September 30, 2011, accessed October 1, 2011 .
  4. ^ The Spaceport's ELA-2 launch facility is dismantled after an illustrious career. Arianespace, September 26, 2011, accessed October 8, 2011 .

Coordinates: 5 ° 13'56 "  N , 52 ° 46'32"  W.