European Vega-C rocket fails to launch Pleiades Neo 5 and 6 satellites into orbit, fell after launch

The European Vega-C rocket failed to launch the Pleiades Neo 5 and 6 Earth remote sensing satellites into orbit. The operator Arianespace announced an unsuccessful attempt to launch and put two civil and military satellites into low Earth orbit.

“Having reached a height of about 105 km, the rocket, along with the payload, began to decline sharply. According to the preliminary version, a technical problem arose in the operation of the second stage of the carrier, ”the company said in a statement to Interfax.

The Italian-made Vega-C rocket was launched on the night of December 21 from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana. It was assumed that the satellites would complement the composition of the Airbus Defense and Space orbital constellation, in which the Pleiades Neo 3 and 4 devices have been operating since April 2022, capable of taking images of any point on the globe in ultra-high resolution up to 30 cm.
-
*If it had been successful, it would have been the first commercial launch of the rocket since its inaugural journey on July 13.*

"The mission is lost," Stephane Israel, head of commercial launch service provider Arianespace, said from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana.

Ten minutes after liftoff, at 10:47 pm (0147 GMT), the launcher's trajectory deviated from its programmed route and communications were lost, it said.
#kourou #guianafrancesa #vegaC #frenchguiana #arianespace #satellites #orbit #pleiades