Latest Mission updates

Vega August 2, 2017

A perfect “10” – Arianespace’s lightweight Vega orbits OPTSAT-3000 and Venµs on a milestone success

The light-lift Vega ascends from the Spaceport's SLV launch complex with its OPTSAT-3000 and Venµs satellite passengers.

For the second time this year – and the 10th overall since entering service in 2012 – Vega has successfully launched a payload from the Spaceport, with this lightweight vehicle’s latest mission delivering the OPTSAT-3000 and Venµs Earth observation satellites to Sun-synchronous orbits.

Lifting off from the Spaceport’s SLV launch complex at precisely 10:58:33 p.m. French Guiana time on August 1, Vega lofted its multi-passenger payload during a flight sequence lasting 1 hour, 37 minutes.

Speaking from the Spaceport’s Jupiter control room, Arianespace Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Israël declared the launch a success and reflected on Vega’s new “10-for-10” operational record, which includes four of these successes achieved during the past 11 months.

He added: “In five years of activity, our lightweight vehicle already has orbited a total of 25 satellites for 19 customers worldwide, both institutional and commercial, serving a wide range of space applications, such as Earth observation, science, technology and education.”

Delivering OPTSAT-3000 for Italy

During the initial phase of the mission – designated Flight VV10 in Arianespace’s launcher family numbering system – Vega was powered by its three solid propellant stages, which was followed by multiple burns of the bi-propellant upper stage, before separate deployments of the two spacecraft.

The launch pad glows with the light of Vega’s successful liftoff.

Lighting up the launch pad at liftoff, Vega begins its flight sequence lasting a little more than an hour and a half.

The first passenger released by Vega, OPTSAT-3000, is an Earth observation satellite for the Italian Ministry of Defence. It was built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) based on inter-governmental Italian-Israeli agreements, and once operational, will enable national defense entities to acquire and use high-resolution imagery from any part of the globe.

The OPTSAT-3000 system was supplied by Telespazio as prime contractor, which has responsibility for the entire system; while OHB Italia was responsible for the launch services and related engineering support.

Stéphane Israël congratulated all the partners involved with OPTSAT-3000, and gave special thanks to the Italian Ministry of Defence, adding: “We are very proud to have delivered for Italy with our most Italian launcher, Vega.”

General Enzo Vecciarelli, Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, acknowledged the “superb capabilities of a great team” that was responsible for OPTSAT-3000’s development and launch. In comments at the Spaceport’s control center, he noted it marks another step forward in European cooperation in space, “which is something that we really need, because we live in a critical time for the security and stability environment – where there is a lack of situational awareness.”

Venµs: an Israeli-French collaboration

The second passenger orbited on Flight VV10 – Venµs, also produced by Israel Aerospace Industries — is an Earth observation and exploratory mission for the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and France’s CNES space agency at the benefit of Israel’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Space.

Venµs (an acronym for “Vegetation and Environment monitoring on a New Micro Satellite”) will study the evolution of Earth’s vegetation during its scientific mission, while the satellite’s technological mission will provide in-flight qualification of the Israeli electrical propulsion system, based on Hall-Effect thrusters. CNES is in charge of the multi-spectral camera, its image programming and processing, as well as the distributing ground station; while the camera’s development was performed for CNES by Elbit Electro-Optic Systems, Elop Ltd.

Arianespace’s CEO welcomed and thanked the leaders from Israel and France’s space agencies in attendance for the launch, and added that he hopes this flight serves as a benchmark for further ambitious space cooperation between Israel and France.

Peretz Vazan, Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, called the launch a “spectacular event,” and provided his “mazel tov” (congratulations, in Hebrew) to all involved in the success.

An eye on the future

In addition to bringing Vega’s tally of successes to double-digits, Flight VV10 also marked its first launch under a new operational organization between Arianespace and the vehicle’s production prime contractor, Italy’s Avio.

Vega’s payload fairing is positioned at the top of the rocket.

The payload fairing, which encapsulated Flight VV10’s two satellite passengers during Vega’s ascent through the denser layers of Earth’s atmosphere, was manufactured using a new “out of autoclave” production process.

Under the new arrangement aimed at enhancing competitiveness, Avio now assumes responsibility for preparing the launcher until liftoff; while Arianespace maintains full responsibility for customer relations, as well as operations for the final countdown and launch decision.

Reinforcing Arianespace’s continued focus on innovation, Flight VV10’s Vega also utilized a new “out of autoclave” payload fairing that was developed by RUAG for the next-generation Vega C launcher, with the manufacturing process also to be applied to payload fairings for the follow-on Ariane 6 heavy-lift vehicle.

Flight VV10 continues Arianespace’s busy schedule in 2017, in which eight launches were performed during the year’s first seven months utilizing the company’s family of launchers (two with the lightweight Vega; two with the medium-lift Soyuz; and four using the heavy-lift Ariane 5).

The company’s next mission is scheduled for early September, when Ariane 5 will lift off from French Guiana on a flight to geostationary transfer orbit with a pair of relay satellites: Intelsat 37e and BSAT-4a.

  • Read Arianespace’s press release on Flight VV10.
  • Larger versions of the photos above are available for downloading in the Gallery.
  • More details on the latest Vega success are available in the Flight VV10 launch kit:
Vega Flight VV10
PDF / 913 KB

CNES website: https://cnes.fr/en

Israel Aerospace Industries website: www.iai.co.il/2013/22031-en/homepage.aspx

Israeli Space Agency website: www.space.gov.il/en

Rafael website: www.rafael.co.il/4312-en/Marketing.aspx

Italian Ministry of Defense website: www.difesa.it/EN/Pagine/Home.aspx

Telespazio website: www.telespazio.com

OHB Italia SpA. website: www.cgspace.it

Vega August 1, 2017

Liftoff of the Vega mission with OPTSAT-3000 and Venµs

Read more