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Deal inked to build Soyuz launch base in Kourou BY STEPHEN CLARK SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: April 11, 2005 Russian and French officials gathered Monday in Moscow to sign a contract setting the stage for the development of a South American launch site for Russia's venerable Soyuz rockets.
Officials have been working on joint Russian and European programs more frequently over the past decade, and several governmental treaties and industry agreements over the past few years have been leading up to the final contract signing that came Monday. The $446 million project will require infrastructure provided by Russian contractors tailored for the Soyuz rocket, which is manufactured by TsSKB Progress located in Samara. Rockets to be flown from Kourou will be fitted with a Fregat upper stage built by NPO Lavochkin, while an industry team led by the KBOM design office will be responsible for ground systems. The cost will be split between $289 million in direct funding from the European Space Agency, while $157 million will be in the form of a loan to Arianespace from the European Investment Bank. Activities outlined by the contract include the construction of the launch pad components and their assembly, system testing, required modifications of the Soyuz to work using the Guiana Space Center's tracking and support equipment, and final development of the upgraded Soyuz 2-1b vehicle scheduled to debut next year with a French science satellite payload. The Soyuz 2-1b features an upgraded third stage engine that enhances performance. A transitional vehicle called the Soyuz 2-1a tested a new digital control system last November that can deliver spacecraft into more precise orbits and allows for an enlarged four-meter payload fairing to carry larger satellites. With technical upgrades and the ability to take advantage of the Earth's rotation at an equatorial launch site, the Soyuz can double its carrying capacity above its current capability from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launches from Baikonur are currently marketed by Starsem, a joint company owned by Arianespace and other European and Russian industry leaders. The Soyuz will use a brand new launch complex located about 10 kilometers north of the operational ELA-3 launch pad that hosts the heavy-lift Ariane 5 booster. The ELA-1 facility -- used to launch the earliest Ariane rockets over two decades ago -- is now being transformed for launches by the small-satellite Vega launcher currently under development. The new Soyuz facility in Kourou will consist of a forward zone containing the launch pad and a rear zone where rockets will be assembled and payloads can be attached. The vehicle will be transferred horizontally on 700-meter rail tracks to be erected on the launch pad for final preparations. Construction of the launch complex should get underway soon, and it is expected to be complete in less than two years in advance of the first blastoff in the next chapter of the Soyuz program's storied history some time at the end of 2007 or in early 2008. When all three launch systems are in place beginning in 2008, Arianespace will offer rockets covering virtually the entire space launch market. The Ariane 5 rocket currently competes for heavy-lift commercial and European civil missions, and can deliver between six and 10 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit. Soyuz rockets will capture the mid-level market consisting of payloads to a similar orbit, while the solid-fueled Vega will truck smaller satellites to low orbits. Le Gall reported that Arianespace has already penned customers for the first Soyuz launch from Kourou in 2008. It is believed the flight will carry a pair of French research satellites and an Australian Optus communications satellite. |
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Space shuttle Discovery begins its 4.2-mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39B atop the Apollo-era crawler-transporter. (10min 30sec file)
Shuttle Discovery makes its way down the crawlerway under beautiful Florida skies. (5min 00sec file)
The transporter reaches the point where the crawlerway splits into two paths to the Complex 39 pads and makes the turn for pad 39B. (7min 11sec file)
As viewed from the Vehicle Assembly Building, space shuttle Discovery rolls northward and past launch pad 39A in the background. (4min 23sec file)
Discovery's rollout enters the early evening as the shuttle heads north toward launch pad 39B. (6min 15sec file)
This time lapse movie shows shuttle Discovery rolling up the ramp and arriving at launch pad 39B after the 10.5-hour trip from the VAB. (3min 32sec file)
The gantry-like Rotating Service Structure to moved around Discovery to enclose the orbiter just before sunrise, a couple of hours after the shuttle reached the pad, as seen is time lapse movie. (1min 26sec file)
A preview of Discovery's STS-114 flight is presented in this narrated movie about the shuttle return to flight mission. (10min 15sec file)
The impact to the International Space Station by this two-year grounding of the space shuttle fleet in the wake of Columbia is examined in this narrated movie. (6min 46sec file)
Take a behind-the-scenes look at the seven astronauts who will fly aboard the space shuttle return-to-flight mission in this movie that profiles the lives of the STS-114 crew. (10min 04sec file)