Vega C Family rocket variant.
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Airbus’ four Pleiades Neo satellites, scheduled for launch in 2020 on two Vega C rockets, will feature Tesat-Spacecom optical links to connect to Europe’s SpaceDataHighway.
ESA planned Vega C introduction in 2019 and Ariane 6 debut in 2020 as part of European launch modernization efforts.
In 2014 the European Space Agency approved a six-year roadmap to develop two next-generation rockets, Ariane 6 and Vega C.
Arianespace signed a contract with the Korean Aerospace Research Institute for a Vega C mission on 2018-09-20.
ESA Director General Jan Woerner described the 2018-10-25 joint statement as a first step in pooling government missions across Europe to provide a minimum multi-year order for the Ariane 6 and Vega C rockets.
The 10 Vega rockets ordered in 2017, a mix of Vega and Vega C, are expected to last Arianespace until 2021 or the beginning of 2022.
Arianespace and Avio will launch Vega C for the first time in March 2020, sending Lares-2 into a 6,000-kilometer orbit at an inclination of 75 degrees.
Airbus’s four Pleiades Neo satellites were scheduled to launch in pairs, one in July 2020 and the second in early 2022 on Vega C missions.
Avio is preparing a transition phase from 2020 to 2023 to build Vega and the more powerful Vega C simultaneously.
The 2,240,000,000 EUR for space transportation covers upgrades for the Ariane 6 and Vega C vehicles, support for small launch vehicle development, and funds the Italian-led Space Rider reusable spacecraft program.
Avio is developing Vega E, a variant planned for around 2025 that would replace Vega C’s third and fourth stages with a single liquid-oxygen and methane-powered stage and increase lift capacity to 2,800 kg.
Avio plans three Vega launches in 2021 and a mid-2021 debut of Vega C.
Arianespace plans regular SSMS missions in the future with the next-generation Vega C, which is expected to launch in 2021.
Avio had planned to conduct three Vega launches in 2020 and still aimed to debut Vega C before 2021.
The European Commission planned a bulk procurement of Ariane 6 and Vega C vehicles during the 2021–27 budget to fulfill Galileo and Copernicus missions.
Arianespace planned three Vega launches in 2021, including the first launch of the upgraded Vega C.
Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace, and Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio, signed the Vega C batch agreement on 2021-03-19.
Arianespace has been strongly committed to Ariane 6 and Vega C since ESA’s 2014 Ministerial Conference in Luxembourg for European institutional and global commercial markets.
ESA is studying ways to launch the stranded satellites using Ariane 6 and Vega C launch vehicles, both scheduled to make their inaugural launches 2022.
The European Space Agency will launch the Sentinel-1C radar imaging satellite on a Vega C rocket in 2023.