Scheduled for Wednesday evening, the launch from the Guiana Space Center was delayed by 24 hours, “due to a mechanical problem preventing the removal of the Vega C mobile gantry”.
The launch of the small Vega C rocket, the other pillar of European space sovereignty with Ariane 6, was again postponed by 24 hours on Wednesday, after a first postponement the day before, noted an AFP correspondent in Kourou. Scheduled for 6:20 p.m. local time (9:20 p.m. GMT), the launch from the Guiana Space Center was delayed by 24 hours. “Due to a mechanical issue preventing the removal of the Vega C mobile gantry, the launch timeline has been interrupted”indicated in a press release the National Center for Space Studies (Cnes), manager of the Kourou base in French Guiana.
This interruption occurred 2 hours 35 minutes before the initial take-off time. “A new attempt is planned tomorrow, December 5, at 6:20 p.m., Guyana time”or 9:20 p.m. GMT, specifies Cnes. Initially scheduled for Tuesday, the shooting had already been postponed for the first time to allow for “additional checks on electrical connections in the upper floor”according to Toni Tolker-Nielsen, director of space transportation at the European Space Agency (ESA).
A first failure in 2022
After the success of the inaugural flight of the Ariane 6 rocket in July, which allowed Europe to regain access to space, eyes are now fixed on the small Vega C launcher, which must transport the Sentinel satellite. 1C for the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation programme.
The first commercial mission of Vega C in December 2022 ended in failure causing the loss of two Airbus satellites, while Europe was already deprived of Soyuz after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in the waiting for Ariane 6. The decision to return to the mission of Vega C was taken after conclusive tests of the Zefiro-40 engine, which equips the second stage of the launcher and whose failure had been the cause of failure. It has since been redesigned.
