![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/9-2-2020-VV16-4.jpg\")
<\/p>\nArianespace\u2019s Vega rocket launched on its third mission of the year with the Capacit\u00e9 de Renseignement \u00c9lectromagn\u00e9tique Spatiale (CER\u00c9S) 1, 2, and 3 satellites for the French space agency Centre National d\u2019Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Vega lifted off on November 16, at 6:27 AM Kourou time (09:27 UTC).<\/p>\n
This mission was Vega\u2019s 20th overall and Arianespace\u2019s 12th flight of the year. This mission marked the 300th launch of Arianespace\u2019s family of rockets.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Payload and Launch Vehicle<\/p>\n
Vega is a four-stage rocket and the smallest vehicle operated by Arianespace. It can lift 2,300 kg to low Earth orbit (LEO) or 1,740 kg to polar orbit.<\/p>\n
The rocket is mainly a solid rocket motor-based vehicle, with three of its four stages using solid propellant.<\/p>\n
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Vega VV16 before launch. (Credit: Arianespace)<\/p>\n
Vega\u2019s first stage uses the P80 solid rocket motor. The P80 motor is a large, single-piece design that can burn for 113 seconds and produce 3,015 kN of thrust in a vacuum. The motor is three meters in diameter with an overall length of 11.2 meters.<\/p>\n
The second stage is powered by a Zefiro-23 solid motor. The Zefiro-23 can burn for 78 seconds and has a thrust of 1,120 kN in a vacuum. The third stage is the Zefiro-9 solid motor, which can burn for 120 seconds with a thrust of 317 kN. The second and third stages are both 1.9 meters in diameter. However, the second stage is taller at 8.39 meters long while the third stage is 4.12 meters long.<\/p>\n
Space tourism guides (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n The Attitude & Vernier Upper Module (AVUM) is the fourth and final stage of the Vega rocket. The AVUM, the only liquid-propellant stage of the Vega, is powered by the re-ignitable Russian RD-869 hypergolic engine. The RD-869 can produce 2.45 kN of thrust and uses unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UMDH) and nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) as its propellants. The AVUM uses hydrazine thrusters to provide roll and attitude control, and the stage is used to place satellites into their final orbit.<\/p>\n The fairing of Vega is 7.88 meters long and 2.6 meters in diameter.<\/p>\n Vega launched from the Guiana Space Center from the Ensemble de Lancement Vega, or ELV, pad. This pad is the oldest at the Guiana Space Center, first used for the Europa-II rocket. Following the end of the Europa program, ELV was later used for the Ariane 1, 2, and 3 rockets until Ariane 3 was retired in 1989. It was later refurbished for Vega in 2001 and was first used for the new launcher in 2012.<\/p>\n Since its introduction, Vega has flown 19 times with 17 successes. From 2012 to 2019, Vega successfully completed 14 flawless missions, until its first failure on the Vega Vehicle 15 (VV15) mission. Its second failure was seen on VV17 in 2020. Since Vega\u2019s last failure, VV18 and VV19 have both flown successfully, carrying the Pleiades-Neo 3 and 4 satellites and rideshare payloads on their respective flights.<\/p>\n Artist impression of CER\u00c9S while in orbit. (Credit: CNES)<\/p>\n VV20 carried three CER\u00c9S satellites for the French military. CER\u00c9S is a series of three closely positioned Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) satellites. The satellites will be used to detect and locate ground signals, along with ground control and user ground segments. Built by Airbus, each stellite has a mass of 446 kg. The CER\u00c9S program incorporates lessons learned from the Essaim and ELectronic Intelligence by SAtellite (ELISA) programs.<\/p>\n Essaim (\u201cswarm\u201d in French) were a set of four technology demonstrators launched by an Ariane 5G+ in 2004. The satellites were based on the Myriade satellite bus and weighed 120 kg. The main goal of these satellites was to collect and map signal intelligence across the world. The satellites were deactivated in 2010.<\/p>\n The second demonstrator program, ELISA, was another set of four satellites also based on the Myriade bus. These satellites were launched on a Soyuz ST-A mission in 2011. The ELISA program was used to demonstrate the future use of ELINT for mapping positions of radar and other transmitters throughout the world. ELISA is still in orbit today.<\/p>\n Airbus won the contract to build the CER\u00c9S satellites in 2015 after the success of the ELISA program. Arianespace was contracted to launch the CER\u00c9S satellites in 2016.<\/p>\n The three satellites were originally contracted to launch on the upgraded Vega-C rocket before being moved to the original Vega variant. The CER\u00c9S satellites are three of the four French military satellites set to launch by Arianespace in 2021. The first satellite, Syracuse-4A, was launched in October 2021 on the VA255 flight of Ariane 5.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ceres.jpg\")
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