May 2018
Challenging the boundaries of materials science
..., needed for liquid propulsion systems; and lead, used in solid lubricant for bearings and solder alloys. Kourou’s launch complex ELA-2, suffered extensive corrosion of its painted zinc-plated-steel support structure, roof structure...
November 2018
BepiColombo – a mission to explore Mercury
... experiments and instruments. Together, the two make up BepiColombo, which will be launched on an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana in October 2018. It will use the gravity of Earth, Venus and Mercury, in combination with the...
September 2020
High hopes for Brazil’s space ambitions
... Launch Center. Brazil’s Geostationary and Defense and Strategic Communications Satellite (SGDC) was launched from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana in 2017 for Brazilian government civil and military applications. Early success Investment...
October 2021
Russia and China – a new space axis
... 27 (Britain and Italy). However, this is hardly a programme of cooperation. The days of the Soyuz rocket at the Kourou launch site in French Guiana appear to be numbered, as European customers move to Vega C, Ariane 6 and SpaceX. Similarly, there...
June 2022
Military space – how worried should we be?
... orbited by Russian launchers both from their military base at Plesetsk and the now-abandoned Soyuz base in Kourou in the European Union - to spy on Russia! The sky over Maui 45-90 seconds after project Starfish Prime’s suborbital...
April 2025
Azores rising – Portugal’s Atlantic outpost vying to become space gateway
... flight-ready vehicles from our clients.” Medium-launch capacity gap Europe has historically relied on the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, South America, for its heavy-lift Ariane rockets and medium-to-light Vega...
