Soyuz in French Guiana

Manufactured in Russia, the ST version of the Soyuz launcher had to be adapted to the weather conditions in French Guiana, and to the safety and protection requirements of the Europe's spaceport.
 

Customers could thus make use of a launcher capable of carrying satellites smaller than those launched by Ariane 5 and larger than those launched by Vega. By taking off from Europe’s spaceport, Soyuz increased its carrying capacity to 3 tonnes for geostationary orbit (36,000 km altitude) and 5 tonnes for low earth orbit (between 300 and 1,000 km). 

Because French Guiana is closer to the equator, where the Earth’s speed is greatest, the launcher benefited from extra “thrust”, enabling it to carry larger satellites on less fuel. With an identical configuration, a Soyuz carrying 3 tonnes at Europe’s spaceport could only carry 1.7 tonnes from Baikonur.

On 26 February 2022, after 27 launches, the operation of the Russian Soyuz launcher at Europe’s spaceport was discontinued. Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, suspended its operations at Europe’s spaceport due to the international sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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As Soyuz technology is very different from Ariane’s, this launcher needed its own launch facilities. Construction of the Soyuz launch facilities began at the end of 2005 at Europe’s spaceport with earthworks, and operations started on 21 October 2011 with the first launch.

The chosen site is located at the north-western end of the space centre, 27 km from the town of Kourou, 12 km from the Ariane launch facilities and 18 km from the town of Sinnamary. The ground here has a granite bedrock near the surface, limiting the need for concrete constructions for the launch zone. Moreover, it is far enough away from the Vega and Ariane 5 launch facilities not to be overly affected by the constraints associated with operations at these sites.

The Soyuz launch facilities consist of two zones: a launcher preparation zone (with buildings for assembling and filling the launcher stages, technical buildings and a launch centre to supervise the operations) and a launch zone.

Special facilities

Unlike Ariane 5 or Vega, most of Soyuz was assembled horizontally, in a building nicknamed MIK after its Russian name, which housed the assembly operations for the various launcher stages.  

Inaugurated in 2016, the FCube building was where the Fregat stage was filled with fuel and oxidizer.  With this commissioning, the launcher preparation time was reduced by a week. Previously, these filling operations took place at the S3 satellite preparation facilities, which also housed the assembly of the upper part of the launcher.

Soyuz was then moved to the launch zone and erected vertically. The Fregat stage, satellite(s) and fairing were then placed at the top of the launcher. It was also in the launch zone that the boosters were filled with oxygen and kerosene. These operations were carried out inside the mobile gantry, which surrounded the launcher once it was vertical, then moved back shortly before lift-off.

The Soyuz launch facilities at Europe’s spaceport greatly resembled those at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where Russian Soyuz spacecrafts are launched, but with one significant difference: its mobile gantry. It replaced a system of narrow open-air walkways used at Baikonur... that did not comply with European legislation. It also protected the launcher and made it easier for operators to carry out the final assembly operations.

On the Soyuz launch facilities, operations were controlled from a dedicated launch centre located 1 km from the launch pad.

The Soyuz launch site has today become the Multi-launcher Complex No. 2. Once it has been refurbished, it will be used to house the Maia reusable mini-launch vehicle and the winner of the ESA challenge.