Vega-C Launch Failure Ends Frustrating Year for Europe
The failure of a Vega-C booster with two Earth observation satellites aboard on Tuesday ended a frustrating year for Europe that saw six joint launches with Russia canceled, a six-year delay in the ExoMars rover mission, and the maiden launch of Ariane 6 postponed until late next year.
“Approximately 2 minutes and 27 seconds after liftoff an anomaly occurred on the Zefiro 40 [motor] thus ending the Vega C mission. Data analyses are in progress to determine the reasons of this failure,” Arianespace tweeted.
Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël said an “under pressure” condition was detected in the second stage Zefiro 40 solid-fuel motor followed by a deviation in the booster’s trajectory. Airbus Defence and Space’s Pléiades Neo 5 and Pléiades Neo 6 Earth observation satellites were lost in the accident.
It was the second launch of Vega-C, which successfully orbited seven satellites on its maiden flight in July. Vega-C is an upgraded version of the Vega booster, with a payload capacity of 2,300 kg to a 700 km high polar orbit. Vega can place 1,430 kg into the same orbit.
Vega has a record of 18 successes and two failures. Vega-C has one success and one failure.
A Frustrating Year
Arianespace ended the year with four successful launches of European boosters and one failure. Arianespace also launched a Russian Soyuz ST-B rocket with 34 OneWeb broadband satellites aboard from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana under an agreement with Russia.
Arianespace Launches
Europe’s Spaceport, French Guiana
| Launch Vehicle | Successes | Failures | Total Launches | Satellites Lanched | Satellites Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ariane 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Vega-C | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| Soyuz ST-B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 0 |
| 5 | 1 | 6 | 47 | 2 |
Arianespace was to have overseen the launch of six more Soyuz boosters carrying OneWeb satellites this year. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February resulted in the cancellation of those launches. OneWeb subsequently booked three SpaceX Falcon 9 and two ISRO GSLV Mk III launches to complete deployment of its 648-satellite broadband constellation.
The Ukraine invasion also resulted in the cancelation of the launch of ESA’s ExoMars rover aboard a Russian Proton launch vehicle. Launch of the mission has been delayed until 2028 due to the need to find a replacement for the Russian supplied descent module and the fact that favorable launch windows occur only every two years.
Meanwhile, the maiden launch of the new Ariane 6 booster has been delayed until the fourth quarter of 2023 due to technical problems. The rocket will replace the Ariane 5 launcher, which has two flights left next year before it is retired.
ESA has decided to launch two missions on SpaceX Falcon 9 boosters due to the end of cooperation with Russia on Soyuz launches and the delays with Ariane 6.
SpaceX will launch the Euclid astrophysics mission in 2023 and the Hera asteroid mission by the end of 2024. Euclid was to have launched on a Soyuz booster, Hera on Ariane 6.
Hera will visit the Didymos asteroid and its Dimorphos moonlet. NASA’s NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission collided with Dimorphos in September in the world’s first planetary protection test.
Satellites Launched
Vega-C’s successful maiden in launch in July carried a main payload and six CubeSats. The LARES-2 satellite was tracked by ground stations using lasers. The mission is designed to measure the frame-dragging effect, a distortion of space-time caused by the rotation of a massive body such as Earth as predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
Vega-C’s six CubeSats included:
- AstroBio CubeSat (Italy) — test a solution for detecting biomolecules in space
- Greencube (Italy) — grow plants in microgravity
- ALPHA (Italy) — study phenomena related to Earth’s magnetosphere
- Trisat-R (Slovenia) — operate an artificial intelligence system in the harsh radiation environment of the Van Allen Belts
- MTCube-2 (France) — characterize how radiation affects different types of memories, and
- Celesta (France) – study the effects of radiation on electronics.
Three Ariane 5 rockets launched five communications satellites, including:
- MEASAT Global Berhad’s MEASAT-3D, built by Airbus Defence and Space
- Indian Space Research Organisation’s GSAT-24
- Intelsat’s Galaxy 35 and Galaxy 36, built by Maxar Technologies, and
- Eutelsat Konnect VHTS, built by Thales Alenia Space.
EUMETSAT’s MTG-I1 meteorology satellite was launched aboard the final Ariane 5 launch of the year. Thales Alenia Space was the prime contractor. OHB-System GmbH supplied the satellite bus.
Virgin Orbit was to have conducted a launch from Spaceport Cornwall in England this year. However, regulatory delays and technical issues forced the postponement of the launch until January.
40 responses to “Vega-C Launch Failure Ends Frustrating Year for Europe”
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Just a couple of centuries ago Europe led the world in most (all?) areas of science and technology. This poor showing in spaceflight is saddening.
Yes, the decline started in the early 20th Century as the nations there moved toward more socialist economies driving the best and brightest to the United States where the research money was available. The great foundations started by folks like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford, along with the universities, observatories and research institutes they funded, contributed heavily to American leadership in science before WWII. This provided the foundation for government funding to build on following the war.
Yes, the decline started in the early 20th Century as the nations there moved toward more socialist economies driving the best and brightest to the United States where the research money was available”
thats comical. they just dont see an economic reason to compete in launch vehicles.
Or aerospace/military technology in general. The only area that they are competitive in is with commercial airliners which is a mature technology and given they only have to beat out Boeing and Russia that is not that high a bar.
thats really not accurate. “The only area that they are competitive in is with commercial airliners which is a mature technology ” the race in commercial airlines today is innovation and cost (which drive each other). Europeans are building some of the most advanced satellites around they just can find launchers almost everywhere (well the Russians are out). in military spending they just dont have the money we have. no one does
They EU nations have a larger GDP than the USA, but ESA’s budget was traditionally about 40% of what NASA’s was while the defense spending, before the Ukraine war, was about half of ours, and even below the 2% minimum that was a NATO requirement. So no, it’s not the lack of money it is a lack of interest.
As with all technologies that are mature, the “I” in innovation is a small “i”. Why do you think that the b737 is still being built and it was only days ago the last b747 was finished.
a great many canards flying formation dont make them the situation 🙂 comparing “European” anything to American is a false comparison. Europe is not an organized political body where the strength of unity produces the same result as they do in the US. the closest analogy I can come up with is the Confederacy and the political bonds are even loser. except for having blacks as property and the joys of a while upper class, you couldnt get Texas and Virginia to agree on anything including railroad gauge size. with Europe it is a political issue and while it might or might not change in the far future…right now its not.
we (the US) post war intentially wanted German militaries weak that is changing of course but its an entirely different subject
the political issues are what keep ESA contribution low in large measure because the Europeans do not have our space industrial complex (with its politics) to support but the core of it is that they like the US populace really dont see any monetary return in a human space program
” Why do you think that the b737 is still being built and it was only days ago the last b747 was finished.” easy customer demand. Boeing has tried several times (both with me having a blue badge and not) to move off the B737 but everytime has been told (mostly by the same companies) that they did not want to do that. In Capitalism that has a very strong pull. Same with the 747 today there is a replacement for it
However the last 747 that rolled off teh line is far far different and efficient than the first one..and that is a product of innovation driven by capitalism
more innovation is coming fly safe
The United States has not wanted a weak Germany since it was granted membership in NATO, where it is required to spend 2% on its defense. But it’s been in the last 20 years that it abandoned a strong military, scrapping and selling most of its tanks, downsizing it military, etc., a trend other NATO nations followed.
As for the rejection of the potential replacements of the B737 by customers, that is just proving my point as the advances in technology those replacements offer wasn’t worth the cost, including the cost of adding a new aircraft into the inventory. Just compare the difference in aircraft performance between the B247 and B747 (36 years) versus the difference between the B747 and B787 (40 years) in performance and innovation.
Victory in the cold war had something to do with a lot of countries had a lot to do with military policy in Europe and oddly enough given Russian military capability in Ukraine they were likely correct. Its fairly clear now at least, that the Russians have not been capable of a military victory in Europe for a long long time. I think that confused a lot of people including me. I thought that the Russians would take care of Ukraine in a short period of time…and its hard to know if the issue with their military is internal doctrine, the level of spending or simply the lack of an industrial complex independent of the west.
Or it is the rise of a stifeling aristocracy class in Russia that has simply brought their economy to their knees
Zelinsky’s speech last night in a sense reminded most of us, except for the Trumpian right who we are. that we didnt think that the Ukrainians would put up a tough fight with the Russians, because in large measure people like me were afraid the US would not you will notice that the opposition to Ukraine aid, comes from the Trump group. the same people who ruined Russia
One wonders how regulatory capture has affected innovation in aviation as in other fields. After getting down to one provider, barriers to entry have risen to the point that it is near impossible to create domestic competition for airliners. Obviously the beneficiaries of the stagnation like it that way.
How many ways are there to improve distance transportation? How many of them are prevented by stasis? I suspect that the next change will be around the regulations rather than within them. Or will it be smothered like the light plane industry?
“A great many canards flying formation…” Great aphorism! ? Is it your own, or if not, to whom should it be attributed?
I am sure its not the first time those words have been put into a phrase but I’ve not heard it and have used it most of my life. 🙂 unk would be fine but Borderline Bob would also be ok happy new year my friend
To you as well!
🙂
It’s been awhile since the EU GDP was larger than that of the U.S. Estimated EU GDP for 2022 is about 2/3 that of the U.S.
As much as we complain about the pork spread funding mechanism here, having to spread it over many nations is even tougher for serious projects.
It should be a somewhat more level playing field for entrepreneurs. That only applies as government controlled/funded operations give way to independent operators that succeed or bankrupt. The second part is important for clearing underperformance out of the way.
that is not true. they lag in launch vehicles. and thats it. there is no real economy to be had in launch vehicles
Grapes are sour anyway.
mine are not. Mine actually are quite sweet. I got the first edible ones this year and they were quite good
There used to be. But that was in the days when European expendable government-financed launchers only had to compete with U.S. expendable government-financed launchers. Those days are gone forever.
ahhh sigh
there are three reasons to develop launchers. 1) you want to make money on them 2) you dont want to have to depend on another group for your launchers and 3) you have a product that needs transportation to space at a certain price point
past that it doesnt matter that a rocket is expendable, partially so, or completely reusable. because those issues and the price point that is associated with achieving it are controlling
its that simple. SpaceX with Falcon is not driving the launcher market that much. they might with Starship if it works like Musk claims, but like most of his claims, it wont
They could’ve just launched on Soyuz.
I think Russia has killed off international launches on Soyuz for a while. Probably take a while to get any of that business back even if they solve their current suite of problems.
The Soyuz leaking coolant on the ISS is not going to make any sales for them as well. I wonder if Elon will need to send a Trampoline to return its crew to Earth.
they are examining starliner as a return vehicle
Makes sense as it is on its test flight and so will have extra seats for them to ride down on. So it looks like the USA has two working trampolines now to use to reach the ISS.
BTW did you see that the Ukrainians shelled the hotel where Rosgin and the puppet prime minister of Donetsk were celebrating his birthday putting him in the hospital with serious shrapnel wounds. Score another propaganda point for the Ukrainians in the war.
Yeah I sort of had a smile with that. the Ukrainians …they remind us of who we use to be and can be again. a good fight a fight for democracy not oil or something goofy and are amazing…Zelinsky has taken on two tyrants and seems to be winning. FDR is smiling
Yes. They’re fighting for their freedom. But it’s gonna take a helluva lot of oil for them to pull it off.
So much for the promotion people claimed Rogozin was getting. His ass was canned.
Apparently, it was perforated.
I saw a mainstream news article talking about NASA considering a Crew Dragon return, but no mention of Starliner. Given the seating capacity of Starliner, return on the Starliner test flight makes a lot of sense.
I think that they are looking at both but in the ened I suspect the only call will be “does the american get a ride home on an American vehicle” . the real thing right now is that if they had to bail out who knows how that vehicle will work…but if they send “another one” uncrewed then something would have to happen with crew rotation in terms of both the Russians and the American. I cannot see any ANY real way the Russians bend and send a Russian crew home on an American vehicle. to much pride…
so really one would only need 1 seat on a Starliner or Dragon.
PS the russian crew would accept a ride home on the vehicle if ground told them to. if I were the American I dont think I would
No, and before long, Russia won’t do that either.
? Most government funded research goes to the military the results of which, after a while, gets declassified for civilian use with GPS being a prime example. The original mission of GPS was for better targeting of ballistic missiles to hit the Soviet missile silos and guiding bombers flying low level strikes.
When the Cold War ended the budget for military research was simply reduced as part of the “peace dividend” so it had nothing to do with tax revenues. That is also why the Europeans lag, because the USA has always invested a larger share of its GDP on military research.
That is another reason that the Europeans lag in research and technology, the high tax rates prevents individuals and corporations from acquiring the resources needed to conduct basic research while also eliminating the incentive to do so.
As for slavery, it is very well established that its decline was driven both by Christian teaching and the rise of free market economies that benefited from workers being free to consume goods and services. That is why the anti-slavery movement started in the UK and only reached the Mideast in the mid 20th Century when Saudi Arabia end slavery in the 1960’s.
If you study some of the work of the Santa Fe Institute you will see why slavery and free market economies are incompatible.
Correcting your assumptions is not trolling. Anyone with any concept of recent history is aware that living standards have increased enormously over the last decades. Not due to government spending, but rather on individuals improving what they happen to be interested in.
This last comment of yours suggests you are the troll. Not confirmed at this time. But name calling and accusations at disagreement are a warning sign.
Yes I fed the troll. Thought for a while it might not be the usual suspect.
I never saw his posts, so I was really confused at your and Thomas’s comments until he reappeared later.
Knucklehead!