Visit of Europe’s spaceport in Kourou

18 & 21 May 2011

On 18-21 May 2011, as part of the European Union’s decision to support HCoC, the FRS organised a visit to Europe’s spaceport in Kourou (French Guiana), in close cooperation with the European Space Agency, the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), Arianespace, the Soyouz programme, the French Chairmanship of the HCoC and the French authorities in French Guiana.

This activity was a concrete way to implement transparency measures as provided for in the Code:

Subscribing States « consider, on a voluntary basis (including on the degree of access permitted), inviting international observers to their land (test-) launch sites » (article 4 ii)

Representatives from Mexico, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the United Arab Emirates and the United States took part in this 3-day visit. The agenda consisted in a series of presentations on the HCoC and on sites visits, including the Telemetry station and the Jupiter control room. On that occasion, participants attended the launch of Ariane V flight 202.

Other publications

North Korean Short Range Systems: Military consequences of the development of the KN-23, KN-24 and KN-25

This study focuses on the new systems introduced, and assesses their potential impact as conventional weapons and as non-conventional weapons. Through an analysis of the possible capacities of these systems, this study examines their consequences on North Korean strategy. It concludes by exploring what this change of strategy may lead to, in military terms, and in political terms, on the Korean peninsula.

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