Arianespace announced early today the failure of Flight VV22 carrying Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 satellites.
The Vega-C launch vehicle lifted off as scheduled on 20 December at 22:47 local time in French Guiana (02:47 CET/01:47 GMT 21 December). The lift-off, the mission and the separation of the first stage (P120C) were nominal. Following the nominal ignition of the second stage’s (Zefiro 40) engine around 144 seconds after lift-off, a decrease in the pressure was observed leading to the premature end of the mission. Under standard procedure, the order of destruction of the launcher was given by CNES, the launch safety authority; no damage to persons or properties occurred.
Arianespace and ESA immediately decided to appoint an independent inquiry commission. This commission is tasked with analysing the reasons for the failure and defining the measures fulfilling all requisite safety and reliability conditions to allow the resumption of Vega-C flights. Composed of independent experts, the commission will work with Avio, Vega-C launch system prime contractor.
The inquiry commission is co-chaired by ESA’s Inspector General and the Arianespace Chief Technical Officer. More information will be shared as soon as the Commission will have progressed in its investigations.
Arianespace Press Contact
Cyrielle Bouju
Evry, France
Tel.: +33 6 32 65 97 48
c.bouju@arianespace.com
ESA Newsroom and Media Relations Office
Ninja Menning
Email: media@esa.int
Tel: +31 71 5656409
About Arianespace
Arianespace uses Space to make life better on Earth by providing launch services for all types of satellites into all orbits. It has orbited over 1,100 satellites since 1980. Arianespace is responsible for operating the new-generation Ariane 6 and Vega C launchers, developed by ESA, with respectively ArianeGroup and Avio as industrial primes. Arianespace is headquartered in Evry, near Paris, and has a technical facility at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, plus local offices in Washington, D.C., Tokyo and Singapore. Arianespace is a subsidiary of ArianeGroup, which holds 74% of its share capital, with the balance held by 15 other shareholders from the Ariane and Vega European launcher industry, and ESA and CNES as censors..
About the European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.
ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world
ESA has 22 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia are Associate Members.
ESA has established formal cooperation with four Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.
By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.
Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int
