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Over 70 licensed launch facilities now operate globally — 20 commissioned since 2020.
| Attribute | Guiana Space Centre 🇫🇷 France Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | Andoya Spaceport 🇳🇴 Norway Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | Uchinoura Space Center 🇯🇵 Japan Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | ESA / CNES | Andoya Space | JAXA |
| Ownership | International Consortium | State Enterprise | Government |
| Region | 🇫🇷 France | 🇳🇴 Norway | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Launch pads | 3 (ELA-4 Ariane 6, ZLV Vega-C, ELS Soyuz-retired 2022)as of [1] ↑ Most pads | 2 sounding rocket rails; 1 orbital pad under developmentas of [1] | 1 orbital (M-V pad, reconfigured for Epsilon-S)as of [1] |
| Annual launches | 4–8as of [1]Ariane 6 cadence ramping post-2024 return-to-flight; Vega-C return TBD | 6–10 suborbitalas of [1]Orbital launches pending; sounding rocket campaigns only through 2026 | 1–2as of [1] |
| Max payload (LEO) | 10,735 kg to GTO (Ariane 6.4, dual-payload)as of [2] ↑ Highest capacity | suborbital only (< 1,000 kg payload to apogee)as of [1]Orbital LV commercial contracts under negotiation as of Q1 2026 | 700 kg to SSO (Epsilon-S target)as of [1]Epsilon-S return-to-flight following 2022 failure under investigation |
| First operational launch | 1968-04-09as of [1]First Véronique sounding rocket; first orbital launch 1979-12-24 (Ariane 1, CAT-01) | 1962-08-18as of [1]First sounding rocket from Andøya Island; orbital capability planned late 2020s | 1970-02-11as of [1]Ohsumi — Japan's first satellite; first satellite launched by a non-superpower |
| Regulatory regime | ESA Convention + French Space Operations Act (LOS, 2008) under CNES oversight | Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry & Fisheries + Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA); aligned with EASA airspace coordination | MEXT / Cabinet Office Space Activities Act (2018, amended 2023) |
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