TO INFINITY AND BEYOND – This mission is the last of the Italian Vega launcher before the handover to an improved version
Mission accomplished: the Vega rocket took off on Wednesday, September 4, 2024 from Kourou, French Guiana, and put an observation satellite into orbit, successfully completing its last mission in its classic configuration which confirms Europe’s return to space sovereignty.
Initially scheduled for the day before but delayed by 24 hours due to “electrical problems with ground connections”, according to Arianespace, the takeoff finally took place on Wednesday at 10:50 p.m. (01:50 GMT), according to an AFP correspondent on site.
“The last Vega mission from Europe’s spaceport has successfully taken off!” the Guiana Space Center wrote on the X network.
Better “monitoring” of the Earth
The rocket was carrying the Sentinel-2C satellite of the European Union’s Copernicus programme, which was successfully placed in sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 775 km, 57 minutes and 27 seconds after launch, Arianespace later announced on X.
Sentinel-2C will support a wide range of operational applications, including water quality monitoring, management of natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes or floods, and detection of methane emissions.
European spatial and strategic autonomy
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