{"id":509451,"date":"2024-11-27T15:38:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T20:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/?p=509451"},"modified":"2024-12-06T03:29:59","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T08:29:59","slug":"vega-c-return-to-flight-slips-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/vega-c-return-to-flight-slips-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Vega C return to flight slips a day"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 European officials say the Vega C rocket is ready for its return to flight next week despite a technical issue that will delay the launch of an Earth science satellite by at least a day.<\/p>

Arianespace announced Nov. 27 that the upcoming Vega C launch of the Sentinel-1C spacecraft would be delayed from Dec. 3. The launch services provider said it needed to \u201cconduct further precautionary checks and activities\u201d on the rocket. Arianespace said it estimated the launch would be delayed by a day, with an updated launch date provided by Nov. 29. Liftoff, regardless of the day, will be at 4:20 p.m. Eastern in an instantaneous launch window.<\/p>

The announcement took place a few hours before a previously scheduled European Space Agency media briefing about the launch. At the briefing, officials from Arianespace and Avio, the prime contractor of the Vega C, provided little additional details but suggested the issues causing the delay were minor.<\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t think there is a lot to elaborate on,\u201d said St\u00e9phane Isra\u00ebl, chief executive of Arianespace, when asked for details about the delay. \u201cWe are speaking about something which, I would say, has very limited consequences.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhen we see something that we are not completely satisfied with, we love to intervene and conduct more checks,\u201d added Giulio Ranzo, chief executive of Avio.<\/p>

Both executives, along with ESA, expressed confidence in the Vega C in its first launch since a December 2022 launch failure blamed on the Zefiro-40 second stage. That led to a redesign of the nozzle on that solid-fuel motor and two ground tests, the second of which took place Oct. 3<\/a>, that verified the performance of the new design.<\/p>

\u201cThe two tests that we have performed, and joint work with the European Space Agency, have revealed a very good performance of the Zefiro-40 with the new design,\u201d Ranzo said.<\/p>

Both Isra\u00ebl and Ranzo noted that a \u201ctiger team\u201d reviewed the overall Vega C design while work was underway to redesign the Zefiro-40 motor, verifying the performance of other vehicle components. \u201cWe have taken the time to increase the robustness in the design and, more importantly, in the manufacturing of the launcher over the last couple of years to make sure it will be fully robust and flightworthy,\u201d Ranzo said.<\/p>

\u201cThey have implemented all of the recommendations to the letter,\u201d Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA\u2019s director of space transportation, said of Avio\u2019s work on Vega C at the briefing.<\/p>

The Vega C return to flight comes five months after the inaugural launch of the Ariane 6. Both are key milestones in ending the so-called \u201clauncher crisis\u201d in Europe that forced ESA and the European Commission to turn to SpaceX to launch several science and navigation spacecraft since last year.<\/p>

\u201cThis is an important step for Europe\u2019s independent access to space, or, let\u2019s say, reestablishment of this independent access to space,\u201d Tolker-Nielsen said. \u201cIt is a very important step for Europe that we can return the Vega C to flight.\u201d<\/p>

The payload itself is critical for Europe. The Sentinel-1C spacecraft, built by Thales Alenia Space, will replace the Sentinel-1B radar imaging satellite that malfunctioned nearly three years ago and was declared a loss in August 2022<\/a>. It will join the existing, but aging, Sentinel-1A spacecraft in providing radar imagery for Copernicus, the Earth observation program jointly run by ESA and the European Commission.<\/p>

\u201cThe launch of Sentinel-1C next week is of crucial importance,\u201d said Christoph Kautz, director of satellite navigation and Earth observation for the European Commission. He called the Sentinel-1 family the \u201cworkhorse\u201d of Copernicus, noting that 150,000 data products using Sentinel-1 data are published monthly.<\/p>

One improvement for Sentinel-1C, said Simonetta Cheli, ESA\u2019s director of Earth observation programs, is the addition of an Automatic Identification System (AIS) payload on the spacecraft that will allow it to track ships that broadcast AIS signals, supporting the use of Sentinel-1 radar imagery for marine surveillance.<\/p>

Once launched, Cheli said it will take about three to six months to complete commissioning of the spacecraft before it enters regular operations. \u201cWe\u2019ll try to do this as fast as possible, but it\u2019s going to be a minimum of three months,\u201d she said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European officials say the Vega C rocket is ready for its return to flight next week despite a technical issue that will delay the launch of an Earth science satellite by at least a day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10940,"featured_media":509452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4150,4161],"tags":[806,1662,789,1721,1939],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[544],"class_list":["post-509451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-launch-archive","category-news-archive","tag-arianespace","tag-avio","tag-esa","tag-sentinel-1","tag-vega-c","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nVega C return to flight slips a day - 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