Vega-C successfully completes its first flight

June 21, the Sun bangs hard through the clouds. The CSG, Guyana Space Center, is under tension because the next day, Ariadne 5 takes off with two satellites on board. Not far from his launch pad, we drive to the launch pad Vegawhere the European Space Agency (ESA) has a new baby to show us: Vega-C, a new version of the launcher lightweight Vega.

At the launch pad, we are welcomed by Alexandre Tambourini, manager of the Vega-C final assembly site. Indeed, the rocket 35 meters high is assembled vertically on its launch pad. When we arrive, the shooting campaign, which began on April 15, is in full swing. All floors are already assembled and being tested. Only the fairing with its payload is not there yet.

A new generation rocket

Vega has already flown twenty times since 2012, experienced two failures including one causing the loss of the French scientific satellite Taranis. Developed from the Ariane 5 lateral booster, Vega provides access to space for smaller satellites destined for orbits lower than thegeostationary orbit. But if Vega is modest, it can still carry 1,500 kilos of payload in low orbit. Vega-C is more powerful and can carry 800 kilos more.

Vega-C follows the same architecture as Vega: four stages, the first three of which with fuel propulsion solidand a last stage using propellants liquids. Transformations have taken place at practically all levels. The most important is that of the first, the P120Cwhich replaces the P80 and provides a good part of this power gain. An even more powerful version, the P120C+, is under study.

The second stage, the Zephiro-40, is also new. It replaces the Zephiro-23 and provides more power. The Avum upper stage, whose engine comes from Ukraine, is also modified to an Avum+ version, with more re-ignition capacity. Finally, the fairing of the Vega-C is bulkier in order to be able to carry more payload. The goal of the ESA and the main manufacturer, the Italian industrialist Avio, is to make Vega-C more powerful, more flexible and above all less expensive than Vega, with a reduction target of 20%.

When Alexandre Tambourini welcomes us, Vega-C is undergoing electrical and avionics acceptance tests. The tests mainly concern the Avum, the latest arrival. It still remains to fill its tanks before accommodating the payload under fairing. Tambourini describes the transformations that had to be made to its building to accommodate the new dimensions of Vega-C.

With a project manager Italian, Vega-C remains however a European rocket. In addition to Italy, 10 other countries participate in the constructionincluding France, which notably supplies the nozzle of the P120C engine, manufactured by ArianeGroup in Bordeaux. ” Vega-C is a very good example of the success of European cooperation in space “said Josef Aschbacher, Director General of ESA at a press conference.

A successful entry for the new generation of European launchers

Flight VV21 was long overdue. Health crisis in particular in question, the inaugural launch campaign has been postponed many times since 2020. When at the end of June, we asked the personnel if they were confident, they hoped not to have to work one more Sunday before the flight, previously scheduled for the July 7. Finally, the ESA decided to give itself a little more time. These reports are common with a rocket that has never flown before. Time matters little as long as it’s a success.

July 13, 1:00 p.m. Paris time (8:13 a.m. in Kourou). Time is suspended, and so is the countdown. We have a “red launch” on the side of the device backup (safety of the launcher, the site and the population). ESA is in charge. This inaugural flight is used to qualify the launcher before commercialization by Arianespace. The qualification rests with the agency.

It was finally at 3:13 p.m. Paris time that Vega-C took off from CSG. As soon as the P120C ignites, the rocket takes off immediately, despite its 210 tons. At an altitude of 77 kilometers, P120C was emptied of its fuel and detached, ie 2 minutes 26 seconds after takeoff. The Z40 takes over for a good two minutes before giving way to the solid-propelled top floor. The headdress also comes off, since we are already in space.

Precisely 7 minutes and 22 seconds after takeoff, the Z9 stage detaches. Eleven minutes later, the Avum+ upper stage lights up for the first time for a few minutes. A 56-minute free fall ensues, during which the upper stage and its passengers continue to gain height without the need for propulsion. After a second ignition of Avum+, the inert load Lares-2 is dropped at an altitude of 5,893 kilometers. Three quarters of an hour later, six secondary passenger cubesats were dropped. The mission lasted a total of two hours and fifteen minutes.

Vega-C qualified but impacted by the war in Ukraine

The success of flight VV21 qualifies Vega-C, as well as the P120C engine which will serve as a booster booster in two or four copies for Ariadne 6. It is therefore a big step for space Europe which has just been written. ” Today we begin a new era of European launch solutions, which begins with Vega-C and will be completed by Ariane 6 says Daniel Neuenschwander, director of space transportation at ESA. The maiden flight of Ariane 6 will make it possible to move definitively into a new era of European rockets, the one where Ariane 5, Vega and Soyuz-ST will no longer fly, with a transformed, more optimized and more eco-responsible CSG.

Vega-C will have some competition in Europe with German rockets FRG One of Rocket Factory Augsburg, and the spectrum of Isar Aerospace, of equivalent caliber, sharing the same market, and whose first flights will arrive by 2023. That said, Vega-C already has a well-filled order book, enough to ensure its future, with payloads institutional, like the Space Rider, and commercial. ” The objective of the transition from Vega to Vega-C is to stick to market demand because we saw that Vega’s performance was becoming limited compared to what we could offer. With this 50% power increase, we reposition the Vega-C in the market “says Benoît Pouffary at Futura Sciences, responsible for the launch campaign from Vega-C to ESA.

After two last flights in 2022 of Vega in the original version, ESA wants to step up the pace. Five Vega-C flights are planned for 2023, four for 2024, and the same for 2025. ESA is counting on Vega-C to be able to access orbit again sun-synchronous, ideal for observation satellites, many of which are waiting for an available slot in Europe. Arianespace also intends to use its SSMS system to be able to send several dozen microsatellites at the same time and thus compete SpaceX in this domain.

Note that the SSMS is a feeder for a multiple passenger satellite mission. It is a veritable Swiss army knife that can accommodate any size of small satellite, and release it into space at the orbit chosen (or at least the closest) by the customer. The system was validated in Vega flight on September 3, 2020. Several SSMS flights are planned with Vega-C. ” It is a concept that allows several different variants of a mission “says Benoît Pouffary, head of the Vega-C launch campaign at ESA.

However, Vega-C suffers from a rather pressing problem: the Avum+ is Ukrainian manufacturing, notably its RD-843 engine. According to ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, Avio has a stock of six engines, enough to last until the end of 2023. Manufacturing is done in Dnipro, too close to the Russian front in the east of the country, and the uncertain future. The ESA is studying options to replace the RD-843. Avio is testing the M10 engine (fuels: methane/liquid oxygen) which may do the trick. According to Benoît Pouffary, the first attempts to update fire of the engine have taken place successfully in recent weeks.

Eventually, the entire Avum floor should be replaced by another upper floor no longer dependent on Ukraine. But this new 100% European version of Vega – Vega-E – should not arrive before 2025/2026. “ We plan to do the preliminary design review of the Vega-E before the end of this year. Then, we will move on to the detailed definitions then to the first tests allowing to pass to the critical review of the definition of the system “, notes Benoît Pouffary.