Launch services provider Arianespace has announced that it expects to conduct the final Vega rocket launch on 3 September from the Guiana Space Centre. The mission will carry the Sentinel 2C Earth observation satellite to orbit for the European Commission.
Arianespace is currently working towards transitioning to the upgraded Avio-built Vega C rocket. While Vega C remains grounded following a late 2022 failure, the company has one last Vega rocket to utilize before fully transitioning to its successor. Arianespace will then continue to manage Vega C flights until the fourth quarter of 2025, after which that responsibility will be transferred to Avio in accordance with a European Space Agency resolution passed by member states early last month.
As per a 31 July Arianespace press release, the final flight of Vega (VV24) will be launched on 3 September at 22:50 local time (4 September at 1:50 UTC). The rocket will place the Sentinel-2C satellite into Sun-synchronous orbit approximately 57 minutes after lifting off at an altitude of around 780 kilometres.
According to a 1 August Avio update, the rocket’s P80 solid-fuel first stage is vertical at the ELV launch complex in the Guiana Space Centre. The company is currently in the process of mating the 1-2 interstage that connects the rocket’s first stage to its small diameter Zefiro 23 solid-fuel second stage.
In a 6 July update, Avio announced that the rocket’s AVUM upper stage had been packed into its shipping container and was being prepared for the journey to French Guiana. This was a significant milestone for the rocket’s final flight as the company was forced to rework the configuration of its upper stage.
The change to the upper stage was required after the company managed to lose two of its four propellant tanks. As the production line for the AVUM upper stage tanks had been shut down in anticipation of the rocket’s retirement, Avio was forced to find a way to instead utilize the larger propellant tanks from the Vega C AVUM+ upper stage. With this process now complete, the company has a clear path toward the rocket’s swan song.
The launch of the Sentinel-2C Earth observation satellite will be the 22nd mission to be launched aboard a Vega rocket. While its first 14 flights were completed without incident, it has suffered two failures over its tenure. The first failure in 2019 resulted in what was, at the time, the highest recorded amount paid out by an insurance provider for a launch failure. Since its second failure in 2020, the rocket has successfully completed five missions without incident.
