European Vega Rocket Launched: 12 New Satellites Will Monitor Earth And Climate

The Vega rocket of the European Space Agency (ESA) was successfully launched at 3:35 in the morning on October 9 (Central European Time). The launch took place from the Couto Space Center in French Guiana and will put into orbit several satellites: Thailand’s Theos-2 and Taiwan’s Formosat-7R/Triton, as well as ten additional satellites for studying the environment, weather, and climate change. Among them is the Proba-V Companion CubeSat, no larger than a small suitcase, created by the Belgian company NewSpace Aerospacelab. It will orbit at an altitude of 564 kilometers above sea level and will monitor Earth’s vegetation with images 340 kilometers wide. Other satellites will be capable of assessing the rate of climate change, sea ice thickness, cosmic radiation, ocean winds, as well as forecasting typhoons, and will also be equipped with Earth-observing instruments with a ground-based resolution of 0.5 meters.

After liftoff, Vega was powered by the first three stages for approximately six minutes before the third stage separated. The upper stage fired twice before releasing the two main satellites simultaneously. After two more burns, ten auxiliary payload satellites successfully separated. Thus, the VV23 mission ended one hour 43 minutes and 58 seconds after takeoff.

This is the 23rd flight of the Vega family rocket, the penultimate one before the “retirement” of the aircraft carrier. There was a lot of concern around this launch, given that last December the most advanced version of the project, the Vega-C rocket, failed its mission, sinking in the Atlantic Ocean; the self-destruct command was issued from the ground after technicians discovered anomalies. Vega-C is expected to fly again in 2024.

Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio, the Italian company that built part of the rocket, expressed satisfaction after the successful launch: “The teamwork between Avio, Arianespace, ESA, and Cnes,” he said, “has enabled the use of Vega Launcher, while minimizing program changes for customers, demonstrating sustainability and commitment.”