|
The European Spaceport Vega will benefit from the exceptional location and existing launch infrastructure of the European Spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana. This French Overseas Department lies close to equator on the Atlantic coast of South America (latitude: 2 to 6 deg North / longitude: 50 deg West). The choice of French Guiana to launch Vega meets one of the programme's main requirements, namely to provide a highquality launch service (the Spaceport's launch-preparation facilities have a worldwide reputation for excellence in the space industry) whilst limiting costs (re-use of ELA1 civil works and sharing of preparation facilities). The Spaceport will ultimately accommodate launch-preparation facilities for Soyuz, as well as those for Vega and Ariane-5. It will also provide the necessary launch-support infrastructure such as payload-preparation facilities, transport, flight tracking, flight data processing for post-flight analysis, and meteorological data. A dedicated launch zone is foreseen for each type of launcher, but the payload-preparation complex (EPCU) will be shared. |
