Europe’s Vega rocket makes its final flight

By Georgina Torbet Published September 6, 2024

Europe has launched its Vega rocket for the last time, on a mission to carry the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Earth-observation Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite into orbit. The Vega rocket has been used for the last 12 years but will now be retired to make way for the upcoming Vega-C model.

The launch took place from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, lifting off at 3:50 a.m. CEST on September 5. The launch went smoothly, with the Sentinel-2 satellite inserted into orbit around 15 minutes after launch. The new satellite will replace the older Sentinel-2A after a brief period of the two operating together in tandem, and will form a part of the Sentinel network along with Sentinel-2B, which flies at the same orbit but 180 degrees apart.

From their orbit almost 500 miles above the Earth’s surface, the team of satellites observe the Earth and are used for functions like monitoring crop health, managing natural disasters, and monitoring water quality.

The Vega rocket was designed by Italian aerospace company Avio and was used by the French launch provider Arianespace for the launch of many ESA missions such as the wind monitoring satellite Aeolus and the vegetation monitoring small sat Proba-V.

“Europe’s Vega rocket launched the previous two Sentinel-2 satellites in 2015 and 2017, so this launch was a fitting farewell to a very successful rocket,” said Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA’s director of space transportation, in a statement. “Teams are already preparing for the next Vega launch, the upgraded Vega-C by the end of the year. Today’s liftoff was Vega’s 20th successful launch in its 12 years of service, farewell Vega, long live Vega-C!”

The Vega-C rocket is slated to take over duties from the Vega. This new rocket had a successful debut in July 2022, but a second launch in December 2022 failed a few minutes after liftoff, causing the loss of both the rocket and its payloads. That failure was traced to a faulty nozzle, but even with the problem diagnosed the Vega-C has not yet returned to flight.

But at a briefing in August this year, Tolker-Nielsen said that there was confidence that a static-fire testing using a new nozzle could go ahead in October this year. If all goes to plan during that test, the Vega-C could fly again in late November.