Vega-C (launch vehicle)

2022

The reason for the unsuccessful launch of the rocket has been determined - a part from Ukraine

On March 3, 2023, the European Space Agency announced that a part purchased in Ukraine caused the recent crash of the French Vega-C rocket.

The Vega-C light rocket lost thrust and crashed into the sea less than three minutes after launching from the Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana on December 20, 2022. The cause of the accident was damage to the nozzle neck. The rocket was supposed to put into orbit the Earth remote sensing satellites Pleiades Neo 5 and Pleiades Neo 6 developed by Airbus.

Vega-C was supposed to launch two satellites manufactured by Airbus into orbit

According to the European Space Agency, the nozzle neck was made of carbon-carbon composite material, which in theory was supposed to withstand high temperatures. This part is designed to control the flow of exhaust gases passing through the nozzle. During the flight of the Vega-C launch vehicle at the end of December 2022, the Zefiro 40 solid fuel engine of the second stage suffered a drop in thrust. The incident was caused by "excessive thermomechanical erosion" of the nozzle neck insert. Investigators found that the nozzle neck could not withstand high pressure and temperatures reaching 3 thousand ° C. The composite carbon part was made by the Ukrainian company Yuzhnoye.

A flaw in the neck design, the European space agency, only discovered after additional tests in 2023 carried out after the Vega C accident. Since March 2023, the carbon-carbon composite material has been banned from use in the production of European rockets. Pierre-Yves Tissier, chief technical officer of the Arianespace launch operator, said that previous suitability criteria related to the nozzle neck did not allow detecting this structural feature of the Ukrainian part.^[1]

Failed rocket launch

In December 2022, an unsuccessful flight of the Vega-C light launch vehicle took place - it fell more than two minutes after launch. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Arianespace have created a joint commission to deal with the circumstances of the incident

The Raketa carrier was sent into orbit on December 21, 2022, at 02:47 (04:47 Moscow time), from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana. Two minutes 27 seconds into the flight, a crash occurred and she fell. Arianespace specialists found out that the Zefiro 40 engine failed. They will analyze instrument readings and other circumstances to understand the cause of the mission disruption.

European Vega-C rocket crashes after glitch

Vega-C was supposed to launch two high-resolution Earth observation satellites into orbit - Pleiades Neo 5 and 6. The devices were created by the aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

The Pléiades Neo constellation includes only four identical satellites that are capable of taking images several times a day anywhere on Earth. The devices are smaller, lighter, more maneuverable, more accurate and faster than the solutions of competitors.

The launch of Vega-C The European Space Agency planned to produce on November 24, 2022. However, the launch was delayed due to faulty rocket equipment. The upcoming analysis of the problem, which arose on December 21, 2022, should reveal whether the problems of equipment are related to the unsuccessful launch.

The Vega-C Raketa carrier is 34.8 m long and weighs almost 210 tons. It is capable of placing a cargo weighing about 2,200 kg in a polar orbit 700 km high. The budget of the European Space Agency for the next three years includes €2.8 billion for work on Vega-C and Ariane-6 launch vehicles.

In July 2022, ESA conducted the first successful launch of Vega-C. The rocket also launched from the Kourou cosmodrome and delivered seven satellites manufactured by the Italian Space Agency and European universities into orbit.^[2]

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