Welcome everyone! Time for the return to flight of Vega-C, following the Zefiro 40 upper stage failure on the previous launch two years ago.

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-12-05 21:20 | |

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| | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-12-05 18:50 (GFT) | | Launch site | ELV, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana, France | | Launch vehicle | Vega C | | Payloads | Sentinel-1C | | Payload mass | 2,300.0 kg | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and deployment into Sun-Synchronous Orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

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| | Arianespace (English) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt3kWdS9EJo | | Arianespace (Français) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XVo-c9E9LQ | | Arianespace (Italiana) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9iZgcvBq3o | | ESA | https://www.youtube.com/@EuropeanSpaceAgency/streams | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBwUVT4NpU0 |

Stats

☑️ 1st Vega-C mission of 2024, 4th mission overall

☑️ 2nd Vega mission of 2024, 25th mission overall

☑️ 2nd Arianespace mission of 2024 (not counting Ariane 6 demo), 299th mission overall

Payload info

NextSpaceflight

Sentinel-1C will provide all-weather, day, and night radar imaging for land and ocean services.

Originally intended to launch on the Russian Soyuz launch vehicle, due to geopolitical factors this is no longer an option. ESA instead opted to launch aboard Vega-C.

ESA

The launch will be the return to flight for Vega-C, Europe’s lightweight, high-performance rocket – further securing Europe’s autonomy in space after the successful launch of Ariane 6 last summer.

Once in orbit, Sentinel-1C will extend the Sentinel-1 mission’s legacy, delivering radar imagery to monitor Earth’s changing environment to support a diverse range of applications and scientific research.

Please feel free to post updates and questions in the comments!

[Pour le plaisir des yeux ... 🤩 ] Avez-vous vu ces images de la surface visible du #Soleil - la #photosphère - récemment acquises par les instruments embarqués à bord de la sonde #SolarOrbiter de l' @esa ?

Ces trois images témoignent de la #dynamique de notre Soleil - notamment, des mouvements de #plasma à sa surface, de l'#éjection de matière depuis les #tâches sombres le long des lignes de champ #magnétique.

Infos+ : https://www.esa.int/Science/_Exploration/Space/_Science/Solar/_Orbiter/New/_full/_Sun/_views/_show/_sunspots/_fields/_and/_restless/_plasma

French launch vehicle startup Latitude has signed a multi-launch contract with Atmos Space Cargo, a company developing commercial reentry vehicles.

In a deal announced at Space Tech Expo Europe here Nov. 19, Atmos will buy a minimum of five launches a year of Latitude’s Zephyr rocket between 2028 and 2032. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Each launch will place a Phoenix spacecraft into very low Earth orbit, or VLEO. The spacecraft are designed to accommodate payloads for microgravity research in fields like pharmaceuticals and manufacturing, returning them to Earth.

ESA announced Nov. 19 that it is extending contracts with HyImpulse, Isar Aerospace, Orbex and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) worth a combined 44.22 million euros ($46.7 million) through its “Boost!” program to assist in integrated testing of the launch vehicles they are building.

ESA did not disclose the breakout of the funding, but Isar Aerospace said it received 15 million euros in additional Boost! funding. The company said it will use the funding for testing for the first two flights of its Spectrum small launch vehicle. The company has previously stated it planned to conduct the first Spectrum launch before the end of the year but has not provided recent updates on launch preparations.

Orbex said it received 5.6 million euros for integrated testing of its Orbex Prime launch vehicle it is developing for a first launch as soon as 2025. “This funding extension will enable us to make the vital next step in our journey as we move towards our inaugural launch of our microlauncher, Orbex Prime, next year,” said Phil Chambers, chief executive of Orbex, in a statement.

HyImpulse said will use its 11.8 million euros for work on its SL1 orbital launch vehicle, building upon its SR75 sounding rocket. That includes work on a new hybrid engine, avionics and a third-stage propulsion system.

RFA, which lost the first stage of its first RFA ONE rocket in August when it was destroyed during a static-fire test, will use 11.8 million euros to compete a new first stage and perform testing of it.

Der nächste Teil der Online-Serie zu Jobs, in denen sich Menschen neuen Herausforderungen unserer Zeit stellen: der Manager für Weltraumschrott.

Hier bei @techreview_de lest ihr das Kurz-Portrait über Stijn Lemmens von der @esa . Er arbeitet daran, die weitere Vermüllung der Erdumlaufbahn zu bekämpfen.

#Raumfahrt #Weltraum #Weltraumschrott

https://t3n.de/news/jobs-der-zukunft-weltraumschrott-management-1633742/

In brief

Last year, ESA commissioned a study to explore how Europe could develop a launcher capable of delivering 100 times more payloads to space than we do today.

The Ariane 62 VA262 flight successfully made it to orbit but was unable to make its final burn due to an auxiliary propulsion unit failure that disabled the second stage’s restartable Vinci engine. Despite this failure to achieve a test objective, the next Ariane 6 flight is scheduled for no earlier than this December.

Europe is finally starting to regain its independent access to space, but the downtime between Ariane 5’s retirement and Ariane 6’s first flight caused ESA to book several missions on Falcon 9 as the rocket was the only way the missions could achieve a timely launch. The Vega-C and Ariane 6 rockets also have no reusability features and their costs are not likely to approach Falcon 9 levels, making them less competitive in the world space launch marketplace.

Europe’s space sector has started to respond to SpaceX’s domination of the world space launch market, although progress has been slow and uneven. Last month, ESA selected four companies — ArianeGroup (Arianespace’s parent company), Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), Isar Aerospace, and The Exploration Company — to help develop reusable launch vehicle technology.