Malfunction during first commercial flight of VEGA C - Pléiades Neo satellites destroyed
Published on Wed, 21.12.2022 – 14:05 CET in Missions, covering ArianespaceAfter a malfunction, the payloads could not be brought into orbit during the second flight of Vega C. While everything seemed to be nominal after the launch, the second stage deviated from the calculated trajectory shortly after its ignition. According to a spokesperson for Arianespace, the two satellites Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 were lost and the mission consequently failed.
"Strong anomalies in the flight of Vega C"
The second flight of VEGA C (Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata, "European Advanced Generation Launch Vehicle") was also its first commercial one - and ended in disaster just minutes after launch. At first, everything looked routine. There were no problems at launch on Dec. 20, 2022, at 10:47 p.m. local time from Kourou, French Guiana. But just a few minutes later, the second stage deviated from its planned trajectory. The livestream showed that the planned and actual flight profiles did not match from 3:43 after launch. Nevertheless, the flight continued and the second stage and payload fairing were separated. However, at an altitude of about 110 km, the top part of the rocket began to sink.
At 47 km altitude, the transmission of telemetry data broke off. Instead of jubilation, silence and perplexity reigned in the control center as to what exactly happened. As Arianespace has since announced, the second stage malfunctioned 2 minutes and 27 seconds after launch - just seconds after its ignition.
After the liftoff and the nominal ignition of the P120C, which is the first stage of the Vega, an underpressure has been observed on the Zefiro-40, which is the second stage of the Vega. After this underpressure, we have observed the deviation of the trajectory and very strong anomalies, so unfortunately we can say that the mission is lost.
Stéphane Israël, CEO Arianespace
Mission VV22 is setback for European space flight
This failure is a major setback for European space flight. After all, Vega C is one of the pillars with which Europe wants to create and maintain independent access to space. This is relevant in that Ariane 6 is the other pillar. But this is still under development and is now several years behind its original schedule.
The hopes and expectations placed in Vega C are also reflected in the launch orders. As recently as November 29, the European Union awarded Arianespace a contract for five Vega C launches of Sentinel satellites. This brings the total number of Vega C launches on the books to 13, along with two more launches of the original Vega.
Airbus Defence and Space loses two satellites, Pléiades Neo 5 and 6
© ESA/CNES/Arianespace
The failed mission is likely to be especially bitter for Airbus Defence and Space. This is because the first two Pléiades Neo satellites were launched by Arianespace in 2021 on board of two separate Vega Launchers. Thanks to the improved capabilities of Vega C, the final two satellites in the constellation should now launch simultaneously. A not inconsiderable risk, as has now become apparent.
Flight VV22 was to launch Airbus Defence and Space's 138th and 139th satellites, respectively, into a sun-synchronous orbit. They would have been the last of a constellation of four identical satellites fully funded, manufactured, owned and operated by Airbus. This should make it possible to take images of every point on Earth several times a day with a resolution of 30 cm. Almost 2 million km2 are to be covered daily, and five times a year even the entire land mass of the earth. The resulting data will be fed into a cloud-based system architecture to enable efficient processing.
