Pléiades Neo’s final two satellites officially declared lost

Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël announced the failure of the Vega C mission yesterday, (December 21, 2022, just before midday AEST).

This was only the second time the new Vega C rocket had been launched and the first time with a commercial payload. Vega C was carrying two Airbus satellites, which were to join the existing two Pléiades Neo satellites (Neo 3 and Neo 4) in orbit and complete the quad constellation.

Mr Israël made a statement during the launch’s live broadcast. “After the liftoff and the nominal ignition of P120C, which is the first stage of the Vega, an underpressure has been observed on the Zefiro 40, which is the second stage of the Vega and after this underpressure, we have observed a deviation of the trajectory and a very strong anomaly. Unfortunately, we can say that the mission is lost.”

The Geoimage team watched the live broadcast of the launch and expectant jubilation turned to apprehension as the Vega C noticeably deviated from its planned flight path. The General Manager of Geoimage, Mark Covington remarked “Launching larger satellites into orbit requires a huge number of interconnected technical parameters to succeed. We cannot underestimate the complexity of the challenge. Neo 3 and 4 will continue to capture the Earth in very high resolution at an unprecedented rate and we believe Airbus, Arianespace, and ESA will use this mission to improve future ones”.

Here's the statement from Stéphane Israël, Arianespace's CEO, confirming an "underpressure" was detected on the Vega C rocket's second stage Zefiro 40 motor, causing the failure of tonight's launch with Airbus's Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 satellites. https://t.co/rUACF3jhhj pic.twitter.com/9gGdpJs9OV

— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) December 21, 2022

Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) will form an independent enquiry commission into the cause of the Vega C launch failure, which will be led by Arianespace’s Chief Technical Officer and the European Space Agency’s Inspector General.