The third Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite, Sentinel-2C, has launched aboard the last Vega rocket, flight VV24, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 5 September at 03:50 CEST (4 September 22:50 local time).
Sentinel-2C was the last liftoff for the Vega rocket – after 12 years of service this was the final flight, the original Vega is being retired to make way for an upgraded Vega-C.
🎥 ESA – European Space Agency Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace
The Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite lifted off on 5 September at 03:50 CEST (4 September 22:50 local time) aboard the last Vega rocket, flight VV24, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Sentinel-2C will continue the legacy of delivering high-resolution data that are essential to Copernicus – the Earth observation component of the EU Space Programme. Developed, built and operated by ESA, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission provides high-resolution optical imagery for a wide range of applications including land, water and atmospheric monitoring.
Sentinel-2C was the last liftoff for the Vega rocket – after 12 years of service this was the final flight, the original Vega is being retired to make way for an upgraded Vega-C.
Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace
Chapters: 00:00 Waiting for liftoff 01:10 Liftoff 04:25 Second stage separation 06:18 Sentinel-2C separation 06:46 Acquisition of signal 07:23 Statements
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Vega joined the family of launch vehicles at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in 2012. At 30-m tall the rocket weighs 137 tonnes on the launch pad and reaches orbit with three solid-propellant powered stages before the fourth liquid-propellant stage takes over. By rocket standards Vega is lightweight and powerful, the first three stages burn through their fuel and bringing Vega and its satellites to space in just six minutes.
Specialising in launches of small satellites to orbits flying the Earth’s poles, Vega has an impressive roster of missions that it has sent to space. Flagship ESA missions that flew Vega include technology demonstrator and Earth vegetation watcher Proba-V and wind-monitoring satellite Aeolus. Vega’s heaviest payload launched was the 1906-kg LISA Pathfinder, a forerunner to LISA that will measure gravitational waves in space..
In 2015 Vega launched three ESA missions in one year, including reentry demonstrator IXV that showed Europe has the technology to launch a vehicle to space and return it safely to Earth. In less than two hours Vega accelerated IXV to speeds of 27 000 km/h at a height of 412 km before the reentry vehicle splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. This demonstration mission was a precursor to the reuseable Space Rider spacecraft that will offer regular access to space for research and in orbit validation and demonstration missions and is paired with the Vega family of launchers.
With its Vespa secondary payload adapter, first launched in 2013 on Vega’s second flight, Vega offered different options for payload ride-sharing where multiple satellites are launched on one rocket. In 2020 a variant of Vespa called the Small Spacecraft Mission Service transported over 50 satellites at once to orbit.
Sentinel-2C is the last payload that the Vega rocket launches into space – after 12 years of service. Fittingly the Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B satellites were launched on Vega marking a logical conclusion to Vega’s stellar roster of satellites launched.
Credits: ESA – European Space Agency
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Multiple small satellites will be launched at once on the Vega VV16 mission from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. This flight will demonstrate the modular SSMS dispenser resting on its upper stage intended to bring routine affordable launch opportunities for light satellites from 0.2 kg CubeSats up to 400 kg minisatellites.
Until now the smallest classes of satellites – all the way down to tiny CubeSats, built from 10 cm modular boxes – have typically ‘piggybacked’ to orbit. They have to make use of any spare capacity as a single large satellite is launched, meaning their overall launch opportunities are limited.
The new Vega Small Spacecraft Mission Service switches this into a ‘rideshare’ model, with multiple small satellites being flown together, splitting the launch cost.
SAB Aeropsace in the Czech Republic and Bercella in Italy designed and manufactured this modular dispenser for ESA’s Vega prime contractor Avio. The component structures are made of very low-density aluminium ‘sandwich’ panels protected by carbon fibre reinforced polymer skins. This makes it very lightweight and rigid.
The SSMS comprises two main sections, the hexagonal lower section can hold six nanosatellites or up to a dozen CubeSat deployers while the upper section section is used for microsatellites, minisatellites and small satellites. The lower section can also be used independently, coupled with a larger satellite replacing the top section.
The hexagonal module, a central column, towers, a supporting platform and a set of standard satellite interface spacers are assembled to suit each mission and combination of satellites. For this flight, a configuration called Flexi-3 weighing just 330 kg is being used.
This demonstration flight aims to prove the technical and financial viability of the rideshare service. ESA has collaborated with the European Union, which has partly funded this mission within the Horizon 2020 programme. This is part of the Contribution Agreement between ESA and the EU on space technology activities signed on 16 April 2019.
The animation shows the separation of the ESAIL mission which is a joint ESA LuxSpace project to extend the monitoring of maritime traffic beyond existing land-based tracking of Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) through the means of an array of microsatellites: SAT-AIS.
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
Following the launch of Aeolus on 22 August 2018, scientists have been busy fine-tuning and calibrating this latest Earth Explorer satellite. Aeolus carries a revolutionary instrument, which comprises a powerful laser, a large telescope and a very sensitive receiver. It works by emitting short, powerful pulses – 50 pulses per second – of ultraviolet light from a laser down into the atmosphere. The instrument then measures the backscattered signals from air molecules, dust particles and water droplets to provide vertical profiles that show the speed of the world’s winds in the lowermost 30 km of the atmosphere. These measurements are needed to improve weather forecasts. As part of the working being done to calibrate this novel mission, scientists have been taking similar measurements from an aircraft carrying an airborne version of Aeolus’ instrument. The pilot flies the plane under the satellite as it orbits above so that measurements of wind can be compared.
ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
This edition of #Space comes from the coast of northern Norway, where we’ve come to the Andøya Space Centre to meet scientists working on a new satellite called Aeolus. This mission carries revolutionary laser technology to measure the wind around the entire globe. Lofted into orbit in August 2018 on a Vega rocket from French Guiana, Aeolus has only just begun its life in space. Engineers are now busy commissioning the mission to ensure that it will soon be ready to deliver novel data on winds. This will be used to improve our understanding of the atmosphere and to improve weather forecasts.
ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
At the end of 2019 Vega-C will be launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana increasing performance from Vega’s current 1.5 t to about 2.2 t in its reference 700 km polar orbit, with no increase in launch costs.
Vega-C’s first stage is based on the P120, the largest single segment carbon fibre solid-propellant rocket motor ever built. It was successfully tested in July 2018. Its development relies on new technologies derived from Vega’s current first stage P80 motor. Two or four P120C motors will also be used for the liftoff boosters on Ariane 6.
Vega-C’s 3.3 m diameter fairing will accommodate larger payloads such as Earth observation satellites of more than two tonnes, and ESA’s Space Rider reentry vehicle.
The Vega launch pad and mobile gantry are being modified to accommodate Vega-C leading into a period when launch facilities will accommodate both vehicles.
ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
ESA’s Earth Explorer Aeolus satellite lifted off on a Vega rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 21:20 GMT (23:20 CEST, 18:20 local time) on 22 August 2018. Aeolus carries one of the most sophisticated instruments ever to be put into orbit. The first of its kind, the Aladin instrument includes revolutionary laser technology to generate pulses of ultraviolet light that are beamed down into the atmosphere to profile the world’s winds – a completely new approach to measuring the wind from space. By profiling the lowermost 30 km of the atmosphere, Aeolus will give scientists global information on the speed of the wind in near-real time. This will improve our understanding of how wind, pressure, temperature and humidity are interlinked. This new mission will also provide insight into how the wind influences the exchange of heat and moisture between Earth’s surface and the atmosphere. These aspects are important for understanding climate change. As well as advancing science and improving weather forecasts, data from Aeolus will be used in air-quality models to improve forecasts of dust and other airborne particles that affect public health.
Euronews had a unique chance to visit the Avio rocket factory, situated in Colleferro, just south of Rome, Italy, where engineers are lovingly crafting the next generation of carbon fibre European launchers.
The site is one of the very few space rocket factories in Europe. It’s the place where the lightweight Vega launcher was born, and where the launchers of the future are being created.
