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Vega flight VV15 was the 15th flight of the Vega launcher, and her first failure.

Payload

The flight, with a total payload mass of about 1,279 kilograms (2,820 lb), was a single-payload mission that should have deployed the FalconEye-1 satellite into orbit.

FalconEye-1

FalconEye-1, a high resolution Earth observation buily by Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space, had a lift-off mass of approximately 1,197 kilograms (2,639 lb), and was the only satellite on board the flight.

Mission description

Launch date

The launch, initially foreseen on 5 June 2019, also at 01:53:03 UTC, was postponed several times due to unfavourable weather conditions. The 15th Vega flight finally lifted off from the ELV launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana on 11 July 2019 at 01:35:15 UTC (10 July 2019 at 10:53:03 local time).

Planned orbit

The mission was planned to last 57 minutes and 09 seconds from lift-off until separation, placing its payload into a quasi-circular sun-synchronous target orbit with a mean altitude of about 611 kilometres (380 mi).

Launch log

It was the 311th Arianespace mission (the 6th in 2019), and the 15th Vega launch (the 2nd in 2019).

FalconEye1 was Airbus Defence and Space's 131st and Thales Alenia Space 159th spacecraft to be launched by Arianespace.

Failure

Facts

Only 9 minutes after liftoff, a first statement was read by Luce Fabreguettes, Arianespace's executive vice-president for missions, operations and purchasing, indicating that " about 2 minutes after liftoff, around the Z23 ignition, a major anomaly occurred, resulting in the loss of the mission. From the first flight data analysis we will get in the coming hours more precise information, and we will communicate to everybody at the soonest. ".

From the available launch videos, and contrarily to the indicated scripted comments, it appears that the Zefiro 23 stage did not ignite, for a reason to be determined.

Arianespace later repeated in a press release that "approximately two minutes after the Vega launcher’s liftoff, shortly after ignition of the second stage (Zefiro 23), a launcher anomaly occurred – leading to the premature end of the mission".

Aftermath

An inquiry commission has been appointed to investigate the causes of the failure and to produce recommendations allowing the Vega launcher to resume safe operations. It will be co-chaired by ESA's inspector general, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, and Arianespace's chief technical officer, Roland Lagier.

References

1. "Vega Flight VV15 - Arianespace". arianespace.com. Arianespace. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
2. ^ "Vega Flight VV15 failure: Arianespace and ESA appoint an independent inquiry commission". Arianespace. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
3. ^ "Vol VV15 : Arianespace au service d'un programme d'observation de la Terre au profit des Émirats Arabes Unis" [Flight VV15: Arianespace at the service of an Earth observation programme for the profit of the UAE] (PDF) (Launch kit) (in French). Arianespace. June 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
4. ^ "Flight VV15: Arianespace at the service of an Earth observation programme for the profit of the UAE" (PDF) (Launch kit). Arianespace. June 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
5. ^ "🔴 LIVE LAUNCH of Arianespace Vega Flight VV15 – FalconEye1 + FAILURE". Youtube. 10 July 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.

v t e Arianespace launches
Ariane 5 (list)	V88 (Cluster) VA241 (SES-14) VA245 (BepiColombo) VA256 (James Webb Space Telescope)
Ariane 6 (list)	VA262 (maiden flight)
Soyuz	VS09 (Galileo) VS22 (O3b)
Vega (list)	VV01 (LARES) VV15 (FalconEye1) VV16 (SSMS) VV22 (Pléiades Neo 5&6)
Between parentheses is the main payload only Italics indicate future launches Symbol indicates failure or partial failure

• Vega (rocket)
• 2019 in French Guiana
• 2019 in spaceflight