“Unfavorable weather conditions” prevented the launch of the European Vega rocket, supposed to take off from Kourou on Saturday evening.
“A new attempt will be considered on Sunday June 28,” according to Arianespace.
AFP
The launch of the European Vega rocket which was to take off on Saturday evening from Kourou, in French Guiana, has been postponed again due to “unfavorable weather conditions”, announced the national center for space studies (CNES) in a press release. “A new attempt will be considered Sunday, June 28,” subject to “favorable weather conditions,” said Arianespace in a statement.
The Vega rocket was to be launched from Kourou on Saturday at 10.51 p.m. local time (Sunday 3:51 a.m. in Switzerland) with 53 satellites on board on behalf of 21 customers, coming from 13 different countries. The count of operations was stopped a few minutes before the scheduled firing, noted AFP. “Due to unfavorable weather conditions over the Guyana Space Center, the Vega launch is postponed again,” said CNES.
This is the fourth consecutive postponement of this Vega flight “VV16”. Vega’s takeoff was originally scheduled for March 18, but was delayed for the first time due to the coronavirus crisis. Last week, the launch was again canceled twice due to adverse weather conditions.
First European group flight launch
The planned duration of the mission was 1 hour and 45 minutes for a low orbit (500 km altitude). This program, supported by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA), is unprecedented because it is the first European launch of grouped flights (“rideshare”).
“For the first time, Europe will be able to consolidate a mission with dozens of satellites on board, which has already been done by other launchers around the world”, notably the American SpaceX, detailed Stéphane Israël, executive president of Arianespace. This “cluster” is made up of seven small satellites (weighing between 15 and 150 kilos), as well as 46 nano-satellites, for applications ranging from communication to Earth observation, via scientific research.
An identical system will also be proposed by the future heavy launcher Ariane 6, whose inaugural flight had to be postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The last firing of a Vega rocket dates back to the summer of 2019, when a failure had led to the destruction of the launcher, as a precaution.
(AFP/NXP)
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