DGA Essais de missiles (previously named CEL - Centre d'Essais des Landes) is a launch site for the test of military
rocket
A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...
s and for launching sounding rockets in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
"DGA Essais de missiles" is situated between
Biscarrosse and the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
. "DGA Essais de missiles" went in service in 1967 as replacement for the former launch sites at
CIEES,
Hammaguir.
A large number of rockets were tested from this site:
Belier III,
Dragon
A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...
1, Dragon 2B, Dragon 3,
Rubis,
Tacite,
SSBS S112,
Cora,
Dauphin, SSBS S01,
MSBS M012, MSBS M013, SSBS S02,
Black Brant
The brant or brent goose (''Branta bernicla'') is a small goose of the genus ''Branta''. There are three subspecies, all of which winter along temperate-zone sea-coasts and breed on the high-Arctic tundra.
The Brent oilfield was named after t ...
VC, MSBS M1,
Tibère,
Viper
Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipe ...
3A,
Forschungsflugkörper, MSBS M2, SSBS S2, MSBS M20, SSBS S3,
Nike Orion
The Nike stage or Nike booster, a solid fuel rocket motor, was developed by Hercules Aerospace for use as the first stage of the Nike Ajax (M5 motor) and Nike Hercules (M5E1 and M88 motor) missiles as part of Project Nike.
It was subsequentl ...
, MSBS M4,
Hades
Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...
, Black Brant 9CM1, MSBS M45 and MSBS M51.
Pads
The most important launch pad of the Centre d'Essais des Landes is:
* Base Lancement Balistique at , from which most medium-range rockets were launched.
Other pads include:
* CE (
Black Brant VC,
Black Brant 9CM1) at ,
* BESA - ''Base Experimentale Sol-Air -'' at ,
* SUD - ''Pas de tir Sud'' - at ,
* BE - ''Base Espace'' - at ,
* BP - ''Base Pluton'' - at
* BS - ''Base Scientifique'' - at .
References
{{Reflist
External links
Satellite picture
Rocket launch sites in France
Military installations of France
Spaceports in Europe