2 years after launch failure

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The European Space Agency's "Vega-C" launcher (archive image)

(Bild: ESA)

Almost two years after the failed launch of the European Vega C, a rocket of this type has taken off again for the first time

The rocket lifted off from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at around 22:20 CET. Technology from Austria is also on board. Both the thermal insulation and the satellite's navigation receiver come from the Austrian space company Beyond Gravity.

The hull is a multi-layer thermal insulation made from several layers of ultra-thin special polyimide film, which keeps the satellite's instruments at the required operating temperature despite the extremely harsh environment in space, according to a press release. The navigation receiver makes it possible to determine the satellite's position at an altitude of around 700 kilometers in space.

Hugely important for ESA
For the European Space Agency ESA, the launch is hugely important in order to independently launch smaller satellites into space and thus strengthen Europe's access to space. The Vega C is a further development of the Vega rocket, which launched lightweight satellites into space from 2012 until this fall. According to ESA, the new rocket can transport around 800 kilograms more load, i.e. a total of more than two tons of payload into space. It is also cheaper and can place satellites in orbits at different altitudes.

Here you can see the rocket launch:

Europe's space travel should make it more competitive. According to ESA CEO Josef Aschbacher, the Vega C covers exactly the area that ESA needs for a large number of missions. "This is really a need that we have not been able to meet so far."

Launch as early as 2022
Vega C was actually launched more than two years ago. However, after a successful maiden flight in July 2022, the first commercial launch failed in December of the same year. The rocket veered off course a few minutes after its launch due to a technical problem with the Zefiro-40 engine. As a result, the flying object was destroyed and fell into the sea. All further planned launches to date have been canceled.

According to the investigation commission, there had been unexpected erosion on the lining of the thrust nozzle throat in the engine. The reason for this was probably that the material used was not homogeneous enough.

Almost two years of work for rocket return
While the rocket was originally scheduled to take off again in 2023, ESA and its partners, above all the Italian prime contractor Avio, ultimately spent almost two years analyzing and testing before the model finally returned to the launch pad. Avio admitted that the Ukrainian-made nozzle had not been tested often before the launch failure. The new nozzle comes from France.

The Vega C failure, which lasted around two years, was particularly unfortunate for ESA. This is because the Ariane 6, which is intended to launch larger satellites into space, was not available for the first time until this July due to delays. The European launcher sector was therefore in crisis. In some cases, Esa switched to Falcon 9 rockets from Elon Musk's US company SpaceX for satellite launches.

Confidence is high
The rocket has the Sentinel-1C satellite of the European Copernicus earth observation program on board. Aschbacher said: "We are really very confident that everything will go well today."

The launch had actually been scheduled for late Wednesday evening German time. It was then postponed at short notice because the movable portal around the rocket could not be removed for the launch due to a technical problem, according to rocket operator Arianespace.