After lying dormant for very nearly 14 years, Kourou's first ever launch pad is about to be resurrected. On 3 June, a delegation of companies involved in the Vega launcher programme visited the ELA-1 site which saw the very first Ariane liftoff in December 1979.

ESA's new small launcher Vega schedules a first flight from the reconverted ELA-1 pad in July 2006. The vehicle will complement Ariane 5 and Soyouz. Vega, 30 m tall and a lift-off mass of 130 tons, will be able to launch small-medium sized satellites up to 1500 kg into low-Earth orbit. Work is shortly to begin adapting the site which was last used by an Ariane 3 vehicle on 12 July 1989.

Although the ELA-1 service tower and gantry were demolished in June 1991, the actual launch pad with its flame pit, exhaust ducts and onion-shaped water tower near-by had been kept. The historic site had been abandoned and occasions to visit it in recent years have been rare.

The completion phase of the Italian-led Vega programme was launched on 25 February last when ESA signed a contract with the ELV S.p.A company. ELV S.p.A. with its two shareholders FiatAvio (70%) and the Italian Space Agency (30%) is the programme prime contractor. A second contract had been signed between CNES, on behalf of ESA, with FiatAvio for the development of the launcher's P80 advanced solid-propulsion first stage.

The decision to use the former ELA-1 pad was taken in November 2001. This solution was prefered to an alternative of jointly using the ELA-3 launch zone with Ariane 5. However the two launchers will share one common facility: the Vega launch operations center will be in the CDL-3 center which was built for Ariane 5. The CDL-2 launch centre was closed after the last Ariane 4 launch last February. The building will however accomodate the Vega programme teams.

At the invitation of the European Space Agency, which for the first time is exercising its newly-acquired prerogative of direct control of launcher programmes, some 30 companies took part in the 3 June visit, 17 of them from Europe. Alongside representatives from lead-country Italy, were engineers and management from companies in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden. Many of the participants were civil engineering and ground infrastructure companies (air-conditionning, electricty, water supplies..) who expect to be bidding for contracts when ESA calls for submissions later this year. Work is expected to start next September.

They were able to see at close-quarters the different aspects of the old pad, and examine practical aspects of the rehabilitation programme that has been conceived. Much of the existing infrastructure, such as the launch clamps which held the first Ariane vehicles to the ground before liftoff, will be dismantled and replaced by more modern Vega-specific mechanisms.

The assembly of Vega's four stages will take place on the renovated launch zone itself in a new mobile assembly building, which like the former ELA-2 gantry, will roll back to allow launches.

The Vega programme represents some 335 Million euro, of which 45 Meuro will be for the new ground installations including the ELA-1 renovation. After first tests at the start of 2005, a first qualification flight, which could take place in July 2006, accounts for 30 Meuro. The parallel P80 stage development totals 123 Meuro with FiatAvio paying half.

The Vega visit on June 3 was covered by the local press and media. The event was more significant than just the resurrection of the historic pad. It symbolised the start of new activities for the space port. Kourou staff has been hard hit by the drop in the number of Ariane launches scheduled for future years. For French Guiana, the prospect of Vega, together with the advent of Soyouz and its purpose-built launch zone along the coast, are the silver lining of the past months' dark clouds.