Vega-C rocket failure limits Europe’s access to space
PARIS: Flights of the new European Vega-C rocket have been suspended pending an investigation into a launch failure, French firm Arianespace said on Wednesday, leaving Europe with few avenues into space.
Just minutes after the Vega-C rocket lifted off from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 10.47pm on Tuesday (8.47am Wednesday Thai time), its trajectory deviated from its programmed route and communications were lost, Arianespace said.
The order to destroy the launcher, which was carrying two satellites built by Airbus, was then given by French space agency CNES.
“The launcher fell down” into international waters in the Atlantic Ocean, Arianespace’s chief technical officer Pierre-Yves Tissier told a press conference.
If successful, it would have been the first commercial launch — and second overall — for the Vega-C since its inaugural flight on July 13. The rocket was launched over the Atlantic Ocean and had shot past 100 kilometres in altitude and was more than 900km north of Kourou when the problem occurred.
Mr Tissier said the “failure seems limited to Zephiro 40”, the second stage of the launcher built for the Vega-C by Italian aerospace company Avio.
Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo said the company took full responsibility for the failure.
The flight data was recovered and will now be analysed as part of an inquiry that will be co-led by the European Space Agency and Arianespace.
The independent commission aims to determine “the cause of the failure and to propose robust and long-lasting corrective actions to guarantee a safe and reliable return to flight of Vega-C,” Arianespace chief executive Stephane Israel told the press conference.
The suspension leaves Europe with few options after numerous delays to the next-generation Ariane 6 rocket and cancelled Russian cooperation over the Ukraine war. Just two launchers remain of the previous-generation Ariane 5, with the only other option being Vega-C’s predecessor Vega.
Otherwise, Europe has no way to launch satellites into orbit or heavy payloads into space until Ariane 6’s longdelayed inaugural flight planned for late 2023 — or when Vega-C flights resume.
Elon Musk, the CEO of US rival rocket maker SpaceX, tweeted that he was “sorry to hear” of the failure.
“It is a sobering reminder of the difficulty of orbital space flight,” he added.