The European Vega rocket launched a remote sensing satellite into orbit for the last time

The Vega launch vehicle from the French company Arianespace was used for the first time since December 2022 to launch a satellite into outer space. The carrier, together with the Sentinel-2C device, which is designed for environmental monitoring, launched from the cosmodrome in French Guiana on September 4 at 22:50 local time (September 5, 04:50 Moscow time). About an hour after launch, the satellite was launched into the intended orbit.

Image source: Arianespace

The Vega rocket is 30 meters tall and can deliver up to 1.5 tons of payload into a circular orbit 700 km high. The first launch of the rocket took place in 2012 and to date it has been used in 22 space missions, 20 of which were successfully completed. The current flight was the last for the standard version of the Vega launch vehicle, since Arianespace will subsequently use the more powerful Vega-C to launch satellites into space. The Vega-C carrier was launched twice – in July and December 2022. The first mission was successful, but the second ended in failure due to a malfunction of the rocket’s second stage nozzle. The next flight of the Vega-C carrier is expected to take place later this year.

As part of the latest Vega launch, the Sentinel-2C satellite was launched into orbit, which is part of the European Earth observation program. Thus, there are already three Sentinel satellites in orbit, which create and transmit high-quality images to Earth, used for various purposes, including monitoring land, water resources, and the atmosphere. Launched today, Sentinel-2C is intended to replace Sentinel-2A, which has been in space since 2015. In the future, the Sentinel-2D satellite will be launched to replace the Sentinel-2B satellite, but the date of this mission has not yet been determined.

admin

Share
Published by
admin

Recent Posts

“Making Electric Cars Is Very Easy”: Foxconn Wants to Make Cars for Nissan and More

Taiwan's Foxconn's interest in collaborating with major automakers should materialize next year in the production…

26 minutes ago

EU Set to Fine Apple and Meta for Antitrust Violations

The European Union may fine US companies Apple and Meta✴ Platforms in the coming weeks…

26 minutes ago

John Carmack defends AI version of Quake II that players called ‘absolutely disgusting’

The demo version of the cult shooter Quake II, which was presented recently, based on…

34 minutes ago

QLC SSDs have begun to displace HDDs from Meta data centers – they are more capacious and efficient

During its latest quarterly earnings call, Pure Storage proudly announced a deal with an unnamed…

1 hour ago

Meta Will Finally Release Instagram App for iPad

Meta✴ has begun developing an Instagram✴ app for iPad. The reason for this was the…

2 hours ago

China Uses Quantum Computer to Fine-Tune AI for the First Time

Chinese scientists have become the first in the world to use a quantum computer to…

2 hours ago