European Vega C rocket disintegrates in space after launching on its first commercial flight: ‘mission lost’

European light launcher Vega CThe plane, which was scheduled to make its first commercial flight, disappeared on Tuesday shortly after takeoff kuruOn the French Guianawith two satellites Airbus On board, the company responsible for the launch stated.

Ten minutes after liftoff, at 22:47 local time (01:47 GMT), the launcher’s trajectory deviated from the planned trajectory, and then data stopped arriving at the Kourou Space Center control room.

“The mission is lost,” he explained in a brief online appearance to the media. stefan israel, President arianespacethe consortium that operates the European shuttles Vega s I see that.

In an equally succinct statement, Arianespace specified that “about 2 minutes and 27 seconds after liftoff, an anomaly occurred on Zefiro 40 (the second level of the shuttle) and brought an end to the Vega C mission.”

The consortium, which is an equal parts subsidiary of the European group Airbus and a French aviation engine manufacturer saffron“Data analysis is underway to determine the reasons for this failure,” he added.

Arianespace initially decided on this No ruins left After the shuttle took off, it was made in Italy.

The missile Vega C I had to put two observation satellites made by Airbus into orbit, New Pleiades 5 s 6the last two in the Pléiades Neo series that make it possible to take pictures of any point on Earth multiple times a day with a resolution of 30 cm.

It was scheduled to happen on Tuesday The first commercial rocket flight After its inaugural release on July 13.

Originally scheduled for November 24, the flight was delayed by a month due to a faulty launch component.

Vega-C –C stands for “merge,” according to the Italian manufacturer airport– It is an upgraded version of the Vega light launcher, which has been sent into space 20 times since 2012, but suffered two major setbacks in 2019 and 2020. Its modernization, in particular, has increased the power by about 50% to be able to carry payloads of up to one ton.

This new failure is a serious setback for European Space Agency (ESA), which is responsible for European launch programs, in the context of fierce global competition in the sector, with America SpaceX to the head.

(with information from AFP and EFE)

Read on: