The European Vega-C rocket must carry out the VV25 mission this Wednesday, December 4, 2024. On paper, it is a simple mission to send a satellite into orbit around the Earth. In fact, it is above all a test for space Europe, because the launcher had suffered a serious failure two years earlier.
It's the big day for Vega-C. The small European rocket is due to take off this Wednesday, December 4, 2024, after almost two years of being sidelined. The launcher experienced a spectacular failure at the end of 2022, during its second operational firing. The mission had failed. Today it’s about straightening up our heads.
The takeoff of Vega-C in summary
- Quoi ? The operational return of the Vega-C rocket, two years after a failure;
- When ? December 4, 2024, from 10:20 p.m. (Paris time);
- Or ? From the Kourou spaceport, French Guiana.
Where to watch the Vega-C launch live?
The Vega-C launch will be broadcast online on the Arianespace YouTube channel.
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What is the VV25 mission?
Called VV25, today's mission actually has two parts: an official one and a little more unofficial.
-The first is a very classic transport mission, consisting of sending a satellite into space. The passenger for this flight is Sentinel-1C. This is an Earth observation satellite, built by Thales Alenia Space for the benefit of the European Space Agency (ESA), as part of the Copernicus program.
Sentinel-1C will replace Sentinel-1B, put into orbit in 2016, but which following a damage – an electrical failure – in December 2021, is no longer operational. It was thus declared out of service by the ESA in August 2022, failing to restore it remotely. It was also necessary to accelerate the departure of Sentinel–1C to make up for this loss as quickly as possible.
The second part simply consists of putting Vega-C back on track, two years after a failed launch. It was a hard blow for space Europe, because its autonomous launch capacity began to be reduced: Soyuz was out of the game with the war in Ukraine, Ariane 6 was still not ready and Ariane 5 like Vega were coming to an end. career.
Vega-C, new European rocket
An evolution of the Vega rocket, Vega-C had succeeded in its maiden flight then had a hardware failure during the following mission. The origin of the problem was eventually identified (insufficient manufacturing quality in the neck of the carbon/carbon composite nozzle, which then caused a “ thermomechanical erosion » excessive) and resolute.
The Vega-C rocket's return to business took longer than expected, however, due to difficulties during requalification tests. As a result, it was decided in the fall of 2023 to postpone the next operational flight of the launcher until the very end of 2024. For a time, there was even fear of a delay to 2025.
Belonging to the family of light launchers, Vega-C has the particularity of also serving as an auxiliary booster for Ariane 6 (which can accommodate 2 or 4), with its first stage, the P120C. The other three stages of Vega-C are the Zefiro 40, the Zefiro 7 and finally the AVUM+. All have evolved compared to the Vega era, except the Zefiro 7.
The operational career of Vega-C is expected to be shorter than that of Vega (2012-2024). Indeed, a new version of the launcher is under development. Nicknamed Vega-E, it must include a more powerful first stage (P120C+) and replace the Zefiro 7 stage with a new M10 stage. Vega-E is expected after 2025.
When does the Vega-C rocket take off?
The maiden flight of the Vega-C rocket https://twitter.com/esa/status/1546577093470949377 for July 13, 2022, at 1:13 p.m. (Paris time). Takeoff will take place from the Guiana space center, not far from Kourou. The launch is carried out for the benefit of the scientific satellite LARES 2 (an acronym for Laser Relativity Satellite), which focuses on the Lense-Thirring effect predicted by the theory of general relativity.
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