Europe’s new Vega C rocket’s second mission did not go as planned.
Medium lift Vega C takes off european spaceport On Tuesday (December 20) at 8:47 PM ET (10:47 PM local time, December 21 at 0147 GMT) in Kourou, French Guiana, 2 aircraft for Airbus’ Pleiades Neo-Earth Imaging Constellation carries one satellite.
The rocket’s first stage, known as the P120C, did the job. But the second stage, called Zefiro 40, was not.
“About two minutes and 27 seconds after takeoff, the Zefiro 40 experienced an anomaly, ending the Vega C’s mission,” a representative for Arianespace, the French company that operates the Vega C, said in an email Tuesday night. “Data analysis is ongoing to determine the reasons for this failure.”
Related: rocket history
Vega C was developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by Arianespace.
35 m (115 ft) high 4-tier rocket is a more powerful version of the Vega that first flew in 2012. The Vega C is 3,300 lbs (1,500 kg) for older rockets, According to Ariane Space (opens in new tab).
The two spacecraft lost in Tuesday’s failure, Pleiades Neo 5 and Pleiades Neo 6, weighed a combined 4,359 pounds (1,977 kg). The two would travel to a sun-synchronous orbit, where they would complete the Airbus Pleiades Neo-Earth Imaging Constellation.
“The constellation consists of four identical satellites built using the latest Airbus innovations and technological developments to image any point of the Earth at 30 centimeters several times a day. can do. [12 inches] resolution,” Arianespace wrote. Vega C mission description (opens in new tab).
“It is extremely agile and responsive, capable of performing tasks up to 15 minutes before acquisition and sending images back to Earth within the next hour,” added Arianespace. “Smaller, lighter, more agile, more precise and more responsive than their competitors, they are the first in a class where capacity is fully commercialized.”
Vega C has made one flight by Tuesday. Rocket, July 2022 successfully lofted LARES-2, a 650-pound (295 kg) satellite developed by the Italian Space Agency and six ride-along cubesats.
Tuesday’s mission was originally scheduled to launch on November 24th. But Arianespace put him off nearly a month to replace faulty equipment on the rocket. Open Vega C payload fairing (opens in new tab) At the processing facility in Kourou.
Further analysis will likely try to determine whether faulty equipment had anything to do with the launch failure. Arianespace will host a media conference call at 10:00 AM ET (1500 GMT).
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