First Vega Launch Since 2022 Orbits Sentinel-1C Satellite
Marks Return to Flight for Arianespace Launcher
A Vega C launcher lifted off from the Guiana Space Center, French Guiana Thursday night, marking the return to flight for the Arianespace launch system.
“Tonight, the Vega C rocket successfully placed the European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel-1C satellite into orbit.”
Stéphane Israël, Arianespace
Vega C has been grounded since a launch anomaly in 2022 resulted in the loss of the Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 Earth observation satellites. An enquiry commission formed after the accident traced the cause to a gradual deterioration of the Zefiro 40’s nozzle. More precisely, the commission confirmed that the cause was an unexpected thermo-mechanical over-erosion of the carbon-carbon (C-C) throat insert of the nozzle, procured by Avio in Ukraine. Additional investigations led to the conclusion that this was likely due to a flaw in the homogeneity of the material.
The VV25 mission was delayed several times for a variety of reasons before finally successfully launching Thursday. Vega C successfully placed the Copernicus Sentinel-1C satellite into Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of 700 km (≈435 miles). Spacecraft separation occurred 1 hour and 43 minutes after lift-off.
“Tonight, the Vega C rocket successfully placed the European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel-1C satellite into orbit. With the launch of Sentinel-1C, Arianespace has now delivered six Sentinel satellites for the emblematic Copernicus program dedicated to the environment, underscoring our commitment to utilizing space for the benefit of life on Earth, while supporting Europe’s ambitions in space," said Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace. “I would like to express my gratitude to our customers, the European Commission and ESA, for their renewed trust in us, and congratulate the teams at Arianespace and our partners’ teams for the successful return to flight of Vega C. Following this success and that of the inaugural flight of Ariane 6, Arianespace is preparing for a high level of activity in 2025.”
A few minutes after separation, ESA acquired signals from the satellite, marking the successful mission for our partners and customers.
Sentinel-1C, which was designed and built by Thales Alenia Space, is the 107th spacecraft built by Thales Alenia Space launched by Arianespace. Sentinel-1C is part of Copernicus, the European Union’s Space program Earth observation component. The satellite, equipped with C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging, has the advantage of operating at wavelengths that are not obstructed by clouds or lack of illumination and therefore can acquire data during day or night under all weather conditions.