WASHINGTON — A solid rocket motor for Europe’s Vega C rocket malfunctioned during a static-fire test June 28, likely pushing back the vehicle’s return to flight to 2024.
In a June 29 statement, Avio, the Italian company that’s the prime contractor for the Vega, said a Zefiro 40 motor experienced an anomaly during a test that was a part of effort to requalify the motor after a launch failure last December.
The static-fire test was intended to show the performance of latest carbon-carbon material within the motor’s nozzle throat. Avio replaced that material after similar material from a Ukrainian supplier eroded, causing a lack of thrust during a December 2022 launch of the Vega C. That rocket uses the Zefiro 40 for its second stage.
In response to Avio, the brand new carbon-carbon material performed as expected. Nonetheless, an unspecified anomaly took place 40 seconds into the firing. That caused a discount of pressure within the motor before the 97-second firing ended. The corporate didn’t disclose additional details in regards to the nature of the anomaly or lack of performance.
“This aspect would require further investigation and testing activity to be conducted by Avio and the European Space Agency to make sure optimal performance conditions,” the corporate stated, adding that it might be days of weeks before the investigation into the anomaly is accomplished.
“We have now to see intimately what this anomaly will mean” for the Vega C, said Josef Aschbacher, ESA director general, during a June 29 press conference after a gathering of the ESA Council in Stockholm. “This can have an impact since it was an important milestone on our roadmap to the return to flight for Vega C.”
The test was one in every of the important thing steps in the hassle to return the Vega C to flight. Avio also said in March, when the investigation into the launch failure was accomplished, that it might perform a broader review of the availability chain of the vehicle to search for some other potential issues.
The Zefiro 40 will not be used on the unique version of Vega. Avio said it’s proceeding with plans to resume Vega launches in September. Before the test incident, the Vega C was expected to make its next launch late this 12 months carrying the Sentinel-1C radar imaging satellite that is an element of the Copernicus program.
This incident makes a return to flight for Vega C this 12 months increasingly unlikely, but Avio didn’t comment on a brand new schedule. “The planning for the return to flight of Vega C is currently under evaluation, pending further evaluation and investigation,” Avio said within the statement.
On the ESA Council meeting, Aschbacher said that the council agreed with a suggestion from ESA’s inspector general to shift the launch of the EarthCARE spacecraft, an Earth science mission, from Vega C to Falcon 9. He said that was linked to each changes within the design of EarthCARE that may have required modifications to the Vega C payload fairing to accommodate it in addition to the December 2022 launch failure. EarthCARE is scheduled for launch in 2024.