Arianespace’s new Fregat Fueling Facility (FCube). Photo: Arianespace

[Via Satellite 07-17-2015] Following the completion of a design and construction phase that lasted slightly more than two years, Arianespace has inaugurated its new Fregat Fueling Facility (FCube) at Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The building, constructed mostly by local contractors, met its quality, budget, and schedule requirements, and is expected to reduce the length of a Soyuz launch campaign by more than a week.

The FCube fueling facility is located at the Soyuz launch complex, and will help optimize the operation of the three launch systems deployed by Arianespace at the Guiana Space Center: Ariane 5, Soyuz, and Vega. Each of these systems now has its own propellant loading systems at its launch complex.

Arianespace has repurposed the S3B fueling hall, which was the previous fueling center for Fregat, as an area for loading propellants on satellites. The commissioning of FCube is expected to optimize and speed up the transition between launch campaigns, while also ensuring higher availability of the three launchers in the Arianespace family.