After the postponement of the first commercial Ariane 6 flight to early 2025, it is now the VV25 mission, carried out by a Vega-C rocket, which is entering a phase of uncertainty: the date initially set for December 3 will not be outfit. A new slot should be offered soon.
It’s definitely an upset end to the year for Europe’s space pretensions. After the decision, in November, to postpone the first commercial Ariane 6 flight until early 2025, it is now Vega-C which must review its schedule. The date of the VV25 mission, initially planned for December 3, 2024, is no longer valid.
« Due to the need for additional precautionary checks and launcher preparation and finalization activities, the launch of VV25, initially scheduled for December 3, 2024 from Europe’s Spaceport, Kourou, Guyana French, is postponed », wrote Arianespace on November 27.
Vega-C rocket flight date to be set
The French company, whose task is to market the takeoffs of the Vega rocket, specifies that a new date must be communicated on November 29, the time to measure “ the impact of these additional checks “. It is unknown at this stage whether a takeoff in 2024 remains plausible or whether a postponement until next year will take place.
VV25 was to mark the great return of the Vega-C rocket, an evolution of Vega, after almost two years of inactivity. The last launch of this new rocket dates back to December 21, 2022 and ended in failure, due to a failure on the second stage. The misfire resulted in the loss of two satellites.
Despite everything, the Vega launcher family had experienced two successes in the meantime, with the takeoff of the VV23 and VV24 missions. Both flights were carried out each time with the old version of the rocket, which ended its operational career in September 2024. From now on, the sequel will inevitably be written with Vega-C.
