18/12/2024
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Three main contracts were signed between ESA and Avio covering:
- Upgrades to the Vega-C ground system to increase the launch cadence.
- Development of the new Vega-E launch system.
- Earth observation mission FORUM to fly on Vega-C with Avio as launch service provider.
More Vega-C
Vega-C returned to flight last month launching Sentinel-1C to orbit marking the restart of commercial operations for the new launcher. Four launches are planned for Vega-C in 2025 and five in 2026. Today’s contract signature will enhance ground operations to increase the number of flights per year and shorten the time between two consecutive Vega-C’s launches.
The former Ariane 5 integration building will be adapted for the Vega-C launcher at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. This will allow technicians to work on two rockets being assembled simultaneously – one on the launch pad and one in the new assembly building – and run two launch campaigns in parallel. This will reduce the time needed between two launches, as well as release operational constraints for Vega-E activities development.
Evolving Vega-E
As Vega-C steps up and increases routine operations, the second contract signed today will allow for the further development of Vega-C’s next iteration, called Vega-E, up to the on-ground qualification stage of the new launch system– the final step before a first launch.
The contract covers all aspects of the development of the launch system such as rocket stages and assembly, adaptation of the Ariane 5 launch pad, fuelling, launch pad systems and logistics followed by integrated and combined tests of the complete Vega-E launch system.
Vega-E will be slightly taller than Vega-C and fly in three stages instead of four from the former Ariane 5 launch pad. Whereas Vega-C requires no fuelling on the launch pad, Vega-E will have a liquid-fuelled methane-oxygen stage that will be fuelled just hours before liftoff. The contract covers all these aspects of the launcher development and more.
FORUM
A third contract details the transfer of ESA’s FORUM mission – short for Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring – to Avio as the launch service provider. The Vega family of rockets are well suited for Earth observing missions, with 2024 seeing two Copernicus Sentinel satellites launched by Vega and Vega-C.
FORUM is ESA’s ninth Earth Explorer satellite mission and will play a crucial role in climate science. It will provide the first-ever measurements of Earth’s outgoing longwave radiation in the far-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. These measurements are vital for understanding the effects of water vapour and ice clouds on our climate system.
FORUM is scheduled to be launched in 2027 on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.