Last month, the European Space Agency (ESA) met in Naples and agreed to spend 10 billion euros over the next five years. This puts ESA into the big leaugue, just behind NASA but ahead of China.
Last month, the European Space Agency (ESA) met in Naples and agreed to spend 10 billion euros over the next five years. This puts ESA into the big leaugue, just behind NASA but ahead of China.
This time, Britain will be forking out more than usual (£1.2 billion), and there will be a new design for Ariane 6 by 2021. And where does all this happen? Only a few hundred miles from Georgetown (Guyana) in Kourou, Guyane (see picture). And why there? For the same reason Kourou became a penal colony in 1854; a dearth of people, a vast open space, and a lot of ocean between it and France.
There is also the small matter of the geostationary orbit; satellites can be in position, more quickly and more cheaply if they start their journey near the equator. In Ariane’s case, after leaving the shores of South America, she’s floating over Kenya within 20 minutes.
