The year 2024 was marked by the first takeoff of the Ariane 6 heavy launcher, which allowed Europe to recover part of the precious space autonomy of which it had been deprived since the retirement of the illustrious Ariane 5. From now on, all eyes turn towards the little thumb of the gang, Vega-C. The light launcher will finally return to service this week after two years of technical unemployment, during a launch with considerable challenges that will need to be followed with particular attention.
To provide context, Vega-C is the direct successor to Vega, a lightweight launcher that was officially retired last September. In theory, it should have started to take over during its first commercial mission, deploying two satellites from the Pléiades Neo constellation in December 2022. Unfortunately, the mission turned into a tragedy due to a malfunction in the second stage engine which led to a critical failure. Not only could the cargo not be deployed, but the launcher had to be sidelined for two years.
European aerospace therefore found itself in a complicated situation, comparable to that which already existed for heavy launchers: with an old generation at the end of its life and successors in difficulty, both for heavy and light launchers, the Old continent was more deprived than ever and the atmosphere was decidedly gloomy.
The end of the launcher crisis?
However, the situation began to evolve favorably with the first (generally) successful launch of Ariane 6 last July. But to get out of this famous launcher crisis once and for all, heavy rockets like Ariane are not enough. Small-caliber vehicles play an equally important role in space logistics, because it would be far too expensive to call on Ariane every time small satellites need to be deployed in low orbit. The entire industry is therefore impatiently awaiting the return to business of the Vega family, which must take place this Wednesday.
If Vega-C took so long after the accident of December 2022, it is because the partners took the radical decision to redesign the Zefiro-40 engine which failed during its last flight. After a year and a half of hard work, its designer (the Italian Avio) has finally produced a new model which now seems solid. It was tested for the first time in May, then a second time last October with success.
All the lights therefore appear to be green and the operators seem confident, as evidenced by the mission objective. Indeed, Vega-C will have the heavy responsibility of deploying Sentinel-1C, a very important satellite at the strategic level. This machine built by Thales Alenia Space will become one of the centerpieces of Copernicus, the European Union's earth observation program. Vega-C will therefore not have the right to fail.
For all space lovers, it will therefore be appropriate to carefully follow the resurrection of this very important machine which will undoubtedly become the perfect complement to Ariane 6 over the coming years. If successful, we can consider that Europe will finally have emerged from its launcher crisis.with all that this implies in terms of sovereignty and strategic and economic autonomy.
The launch will be broadcast live on ESA WebTV, and possibly on the agency's YouTube channel, this Wednesday, December 4 from 10 p.m. French time.
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