(Finance) – “No design problems were found. As a result, the problem was in the execution, i.e. in the production and supply chain managementwhich was the reason for the failure” of the December mission of the Vega C launcher. This was stated by Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Airplanein the press conference to present the results of the Independent Commission of Inquiry made up of ESA and Arianespace.
Going into the technical details, the cause was the nozzle deterioration of the Zefiro 40, caused by an unexpected thermomechanical over-erosion of the carbon-carbon (CC) nozzle throat insert, acquired by Avio in Ukraine.
“As a design authority and prime contractor, we have to take our responsibilities and assure our clients that we will do our utmost to improve in the futurealso in view of the many launches that await us, given the trust of customers in our launchers”, he added.
Ranzo underlined that it must “recognize that Vega C is a new launcher, that it has new technologies in some cases” and that therefore it is necessary to “improve some parts”. Furthermore, it is necessary “better industrialize the product and make it safer for future launches.”
To do this, among other things, “we will try to improve monitoring of production and supply chain performance, also thanks touse of digital technologieswhich will be implemented to monitor operations and have early indicators of any problems”. In essence, “we will transform what is not yet a mature product into something stable over the long term and reliable”.
Another intervention will be to put “more capabilities and capacities”, i.e. “we will increase the number of engineers and supply chain managers to follow these operations and ensure greater reliability”.