Tag: Vega
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Rideshare mission on deck for penultimate Vega rocket as Vega-C successor remains sidelined
Update 10 p.m. EDT (0200 UTC) Sunday: Vega lifted off at 9:36 p.m. EDT (0138 UTC) on Sunday after a two-day delay. The dozen spacecraft for the penultimate flight of an Arianespace Vega rocket prior encapsulation in the payload fairing. Image: Airbus Space A pair of Earth observation satellites along with ten auxiliary payloads will…
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Launch Roundup: Project Kuiper Protoflight and Galactic 04 highlight this week
United Launch Alliance (ULA) flew only its second Atlas V of 2023, as Amazon’s subsidiary Kuiper Systems LLC is finally placed its first Kuiper demonstration satellites into orbit. This week also featured a launch from China, three Falcon 9 Starlink launches, a Virgin Galactic suborbital tourist flight, and one of the final flights for the…
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ESA’s Aeolus assisted reentry is ‘pushing the limits’ of space tech and safety
The only satellite to measure the globe’s wind profile from space, Aeolus, has concluded its mission and returned to Earth through a first-of-its-kind assisted reentry on Friday, July 28. The satellite exceeded its mission by two years since its launch in 2018, and with limited propellant left over, ground teams were able to lower the…
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Arianespace suffers failure on first operational Vega-C mission
Arianespace has suffered a failure during Vega-Consolidation’s (Vega-C) first operational launch, which was set to carry the Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 Earth-observation satellites to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). Vega-C lifted off from the Ensemble de Lancement Vega (ELV) pad at the Guiana Space Centre on Dec. 20 at 10:47 PM local time (01:47 UTC…
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ESA launches upgraded Vega-C rocket on first mission
Vega-C, the newest iteration of the European Vega rocket, has launched on its debut flight, VV21. Vega-C boasts a higher payload capacity and lower cost per kilogram of payload than the original Vega rocket. As part of its first mission, the vehicle carried seven payloads from several European nations to a targetted 6,000 km medium…
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Arianespace Vega launches CERÉS satellites for CNES
Arianespace’s Vega rocket launched on its third mission of the year with the Capacité de Renseignement Électromagnétique Spatiale (CERÉS) 1, 2, and 3 satellites for the French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Vega lifted off on November 16, at 6:27 AM Kourou time (09:27 UTC). This mission was Vega’s 20th overall and Arianespace’s…
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Earth observation satellite and secondary payloads launched on Arianespace Vega
The Vega rocket conducted its nineteenth launch of Europe’s small lift vehicle, the second Vega launch of 2021, as well as the seventh Arianespace mission of the year. Arianespace flight VV19 lifted off from the ELV launch pad at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana on Monday, August 16, at 10:47 PM local time…
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Arianespace launches Vega’s return to flight with rideshare mission
After a five month grounding, Vega returned to flight following a launch failure in November 2020 — the rocket’s second in as many years. For its 18th mission, Vega launched the Pléiades-Neo 3 satellite along with several smaller rideshare payloads, taking advantage of the Small Satellite Mission Service offering from Arianespace, to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).…
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Arianespace announces competition for free nanosatellite launch
Spectators in Kourou, French Guiana, watch as an Ariane 5 rocket launches three commercial satellites from the Guiana Space Center in August 2020. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin Arianespace announced this week it is organizing a contest open to startups, labs, and universities for a free launch of a…
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Vega fails during launch of European Earth observation satellites
Arianespace suffered another issue with its Vega rocket during the launch of two Earth observation satellites named SEOSAT-Ingenio and TARANIS for Spain and France, respectively. Liftoff from the Guiana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana, was on time at 01:52:20 UTC on Tuesday, 17 November — which is 20:52:20 EST on Monday, 16 November). Vega…