Vega-C Rocket, Ariane 6’s Little Sister Launched For The First Time – LIVE – HuffPost

LAUNCH – Ariane 6’s little sister, Vega-C, is about to take off for the first time and should enter Europe into the already very expanding satellite market. We explain the importance and objectives of this inaugural launch. The Vega-C rocket for “Consolidation” is an improved version of the Vega rocket built by the Italian Avio. Vega has also been launched 20 times since 2012 with two failures. Twelve countries contribute to the Vega project led by Italy to the tune of 720 million euros for the European Space Agency. “The maiden flight marks the start of a new era, it is the start of the new family of European launchers” Daniel Neuenschwander, director of space transport at ESA. What will Vega-C do? The goal of Vega-C is to put larger satellites into orbit than what Vega could do. Due to its larger size, the European spacecraft will be able to drop satellites weighing 2.2 tons in space, compared to 1.5 tons for Vega. The rocket will put several scientific materials into orbit two hours after takeoff, including the LARES-2 satellite, a sphere to study the effect of gravity in orbit. According to Arianespace, the Italian rocket plans 9 launches (7 for Vega-C and 2 for Vega). The launch of Vega-C is an important step for that of Ariane 6 postponed to 2023 because Europe has common modules between these two rockets: the P120C, main stage of Vega-C and booster for Ariane 6. Europe should send 17,000 satellites into space by 2031, 4.5 times more than the past decade. Faced with stiff competition from the United States, it remains to be seen whether Europe will succeed in overshadowing SpaceX. See also on The HuffPost: Successful takeoff for Starliner, the Boeing capsule