PARIS (Archyde.com) – The failure of Arianespace’s Vega C rocket in December was likely caused by a faulty carbon component, which Italian aerospace group Avio purchased from a supplier in Ukraine, the company said. released the findings of an investigation on Friday.
On December 20, the first commercial flight of the Vega C rocket carrying two satellites from Airbus Defense & Space failed about two and a half minutes after the start of the flight due to “a gradual drop in pressure”, explains Arianespace in a statement.
Arianespace subsequently set up an independent investigation to look into the matter.
“No weaknesses in the Zefiro 40 design have been revealed,” Arianespace said Friday, referring to the engine that powers the second stage of its new Vega C rocket, used to send satellites into orbit.
“The Commission has confirmed that the cause was unexpected thermo-mechanical over-erosion of the carbon/carbon (C/C) composite constituting the nozzle neck insert, purchased by Avio in Ukraine,” the company said.
This specific composite material is now forbidden to fly, Arianespace said.
This mission brought to three out of eight the failures of the Vega launcher from Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA).
“This is not acceptable,” said Stéphane Israel, CEO of Arianespace, apologizing to Airbus for losing the two satellites.
Giulio Ranzo, chief executive of Avio, said the choice to source the carbon material from a Ukrainian supplier was made during the rocket’s development phase between 2015 and 2017, when no comparable product and in sufficient quantity was available within the European Union.
Arianespace said it would reassign a mission to one of its two remaining Vega launchers, with an expected launch date before the end of summer 2023.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, edited by Tassilo Hummel; French version by Augustin Turpin, edited by Kate Entringer)