Tag: Vega C

Vega-C Rocket Launches European Forest-Monitoring Satellite from South America

SPACE reports, “A European forest-monitoring satellite headed toward orbit from South America early Tuesday morning (April 29). The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Biomass spacecraft lifted off atop a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on Tuesday at 5:15 a.m. EDT (0915 GMT; 6:15 a.m. local time in Korea). Arianespace’s stream began at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT), and the launch can now be watched on demand.”
Full Story (SPACE)


Video

Flight VV26 | Biomass | Vega C (Launch occurs at 22:45)
(Arianespace; YouTube)

Vega C Successfully Launches for First Time in Nearly Two Years

Space News reports, “A Vega C successfully launched an Earth observation satellite Dec. 5 in the rocket’s first flight since a failure nearly two years ago. The Vega C lifted off from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, at 4:20 p.m. Eastern. The launch was previously scheduled for Dec. 4 but delayed a day because a problem with the mobile launch gantry at the pad.”
Full Story (Space News)

 

 

 

 

 

Video

Vega-C rocket launches Sentinel-1C satellite in return to flight, Dec. 5, 2024 (Launch at 37:02 mark)
(VideoFromSpace; YouTube)

ESA Targeting Wednesday Night for Final Launch of its First-Generation Vega Rocket

Spaceflight Now reports, “Update 7:05 a.m. EDT: Arianespace announced that the mission is scrubbed for a Tuesday night launch attempt due to “electrical issues” and is working towards an opportunity on Wednesday, Sept. 4. The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to complete its transition to its Vega-C rocket with the final launch of its first-generation Vega rocket. The mission, dubbed VV24, will carry an Earth-imaging satellite to a sun-synchronous orbit.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

Vega C Makes Maiden Flight

Space News reports that the new Vega C medium-lift rocket took off on its maiden flight Wednesday, “carrying an Italian physics satellite and six cubesats.” The Vega C was launched from the ESA facility in Kourou, French Guiana at 9:13 a.m. EST “at the end of a two-hour launch window. Technical issues had twice halted the countdown sequence.” The primary payload was the 295-kilogram Laser Relativity Satellite-2 (LARES-2), placed “in an unusual inclined orbit at 5,893 kilometers to test Einstein’s theory of General Relativity.”
Full Story (Space News)
 
 
 

 

 Video

First launch of the ESA’s new Vega-C launch vehicle, July 13, 2022
(SciNews via YouTube)

Vega C Ready for Maiden Flight

Spaceflight Now reports that the first launch of Arianespace’s Vega Rocket “since an in-flight failure nearly one year ago has been postponed to no earlier than Monday night due to unfavorable upper level winds over the Vega launch base in Kourou, French Guiana.” The rocket will carry 53 small satellites for “21 customers in 13 countries, including European Space Agency member states,” the US, Canada, Argentina, Thailand, and Israel. Whatever the date of the launch, the liftoff will be scheduled for 9:51:10 p.m. EDT.
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)