(Finance) – After the postponement of the previous days, the Vega launcher took off from the French Guiana Space Center at 10.36pm local time (03.36am CEST on October 9) and successfully completed mission VV23placing two satellites plus ten auxiliary payloads in sun-synchronous orbit.
After takeoff, Vega flew on power from the first three stages for about six minutes before the separation of the third stage, Zefiro 9, from the upper stage, according to the report provided by Avio and ESA. The Avum upper stage fired twice before releasing the two main satellites simultaneously. After two more Avum burns, ten auxiliary payload cubesats all successfully separated; confirmation of the separation has been acquired for 8 satellites, while the separation of the last 2 cubesats has not yet been confirmed. There mission VV23 thus ended one hour, 43 minutes and 58 seconds after takeoff. A fifth and final burn of the Avum finally deorbited the upper stage.
“Congratulations to the Arianespace team and their partners, including AviationESA and CNES, for this positive Vega launch – he commented Stephane IsraelCEO of Arianespace – Putting several satellites into orbit, Vega demonstrated its unique versatility. I would like to thank our customers, Airbus Defense and Space for Thailand, the Taiwan Space Agency, and the cubesat sponsor operators, including the European Commission, for their trust.”
“We are very happy with the success of the mission – he declared Giulio RanzoCEO of Avio – The joint work of the Avio, Arianespace, ESA and CNES teams has made it possible to use the Vega launcher while minimizing program changes for customers, demonstrating resilience and commitment“.
As prime contractor for Vegaresponsible for development and production, Aviation delivers a ready-to-fly launch vehicle to the launch pad to Arianespace, which sells and operates the launch vehicle from the Guianese Space Center (CSG). During the launch campaigns, Arianespace works closely with CNES, the French Space Agency and the launch authority at the European spaceport in Kourou, which deals in particular with the satellite preparation facilities.