The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana is almost ready for Ariane 6. Take a tour of the new launch complex and its various facilities.
Completed by November were the two flame trenches, the mobile gantry, the water tower, and the launch table structure. See the mock-ups of the P120C boosters on the launch pad. Next to them is the fixed umbilical mast, which is also ready. It provides power and environmental control connections to Ariane 6 and its payloads from mission preparations through the countdown and liftoff.
At liftoff, the fiery exhaust plumes will rush 25 m deep below the launch table and be diverted into the flame trenches by a 600-tonne steel deflector deluged by cooling water fed from the water tower.
The main remaining structures to be finished are part of the cladding of the mobile gantry, the lightning towers that will be erected around the launch table to protect against lightening strikes, and parts of the additional surrounding areas.