A white Vega rocket carrying the Sentinel-2C satellite stands in its hangar awaiting launch from the European Space Agency's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. (Image credit: ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE/Optique vidéo du CSG–T. Leduc)
A white Vega rocket carrying the Sentinel-2C satellite stands in its hangar awaiting launch from the European Space Agency's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. (Image credit: ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE/Optique vidéo du CSG–T. Leduc)
Europe’s Vega small-satellite launcher will fly its final mission tonight (Sept. 3), and you can watch the swan song live.
The Vega, which is operated by France-based company Arianespace, is scheduled to lift off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana tonight at 9:50 p.m. EDT (10:50 p.m. local time in Kourou; 0150 GMT on Sept. 4), carrying the Sentinel-2C Earth-observing satellite skyward.
The European Space Agency (ESA) will webcast the launch live, starting at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 GMT). Space.com will carry the feed if, as expected, ESA makes it available.
Vega stands about 100 feet (30 meters) tall and can deliver 3,300 pounds (1,500 kilograms) of payload to a circular orbit 435 miles (700 kilometers) above Earth, according to Arianespace’s spec sheet.
Related: Vega rocket launches Earth observation satellite and 4 cubesats into orbit
The rocket debuted in February 2012 and has flown a total of 21 missions to date, 19 of them successful. Tonight will be the last ride for the standard version of the Vega; Arianespace is transitioning its smallsat operations to the new, more powerful Vega C.
The Vega C has launched twice to date — in July 2022, then again in December of that year. The first mission was successful but the second failed due to a flaw in the rocket’s second-stage nozzle. The Vega C is scheduled to return to flight late this year.
Tonight’s Vega launch will service Sentinel-2, a mission run by Europe’s Copernicus Earth-observation program. Sentinel-2 uses twin satellites — currently, Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B — to study our planet from 488 miles (786 km) up, collecting “high-resolution optical imagery for a wide range of applications including land, water and atmospheric monitoring,” according to an ESA mission description.
Sentinel-2C is designed to replace Sentinel-2A, which launched atop a Vega rocket in June 2015. Sentinel-2B will be replaced by Sentinel-2D, which does not yet have a firm launch date.
