Aborted test and missing parts add to European space woes
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A worker of ArianeGroup stands in front of a Ariane 6 rocket's Vulcain 2.1 engine.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PARIS - The final flight of Italy’s Vega rocket has been delayed
The aborted test of the upper stage of Ariane 6 should not affect plans for an inaugural launch in mid-2024, ESA said.
Europe is racing to restore independent access to space after Ariane 6 suffered repeated delays and the Vega C was grounded after a launch failure, leaving a handful of launches of the original Vega version of the rocket.
Vega’s final lift-off had been set for spring 2024, but that has been delayed to September after two out of four of its large propellant tanks disappeared from a factory in Italy, ESA officials told a news conference.
The loss was first reported by specialist publication European Spaceflight, which said the tanks had been found “crushed” and unusable in a landfill, alongside scraps of metal.
Because there are no spares, other than ones used in testing, which could be risky to re-use, the plan is to adapt slightly larger tanks designed for the more recent Vega C model, said Mr Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA’s director of transportation.
He said the lost Vega tanks had not been stolen, but had no explanation as to how they ended up in a garbage dump.
According to the French space agency, Vega runs on propellant stored in four spherical 142-litre tanks.
Vega C failed on its second mission just under a year ago, destroying two imaging satellites. It will return to flight between mid-November and mid-December 2024, Mr Toker-Nielsen said.
For the larger Ariane 6, the hot-firing test of the upper stage at Lampoldshausen in Germany on Dec 7 was designed to study operating limits in degraded conditions and other factors.
“Unfortunately, we had an abort two minutes into the firing test,” Mr Toker-Nielsen told reporters.
Manufacturer ArianeGroup is analysing the reasons, he said, adding there were no signs that the aborted test would delay the inaugural flight, scheduled for mid-June to end-July 2024.
ArianeGroup, co-owned by Airbus and Safran, was not immediately available for comment.
ESA said in November that a long-firing engine test had been carried out successfully at a launchpad in French Guiana, allowing it to pick a launch window in 2024.
A further loading test will go ahead as planned on Dec 15. REUTERS
