Flight VV19 successfully put Pléiades Neo 4 into a heliosynchronous orbit together with four ride-share microsatellites, including one from Rome’s “La Sapienza” University.
Kourou (French Guiana), 16 August 2021 – The mission that departed today from the Kourou space base in French Guiana marked a new success for Vega with flight VV19. The European launcher, designed, developed and built by Avio, has perfectly placed in orbit the new-generation French satellite Pléiades Neo 4, built by Airbus Defence and Space, together with four other microsatellites. One of these is LEDSAT, a project of Rome’s ‘La Sapienza’ University aimed at studying the operation of Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology for independent optical tracking of satellites in low earth orbit.
The others are RADCUBE and SUNSTORM for astronomical applications and BRO-4 for security applications.
This success once again highlighted the work carried out by Avio and Arianespace to offer an increasingly reliable and competitive launch system with Vega. The European launcher confirmed its ability to transport groups of satellites into orbit in ride-share together with the main payload. This, combined with the new SSMS payload adapter, successfully tested in the VV16 flight, increases Vega’s versatility to compete in the microsatellite market and offers customers more launch opportunities.
“The VV18 and VV19 flights success have demonstrated the results of the hard work of Avio and our partners, confirming Vega as a reliable and competitive rocket. Therefore, I would like to thank all our team, our partners, and our customers for the trust placed in us. We are now looking forward with determination and confidence to the next VV20 flight. It is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year, and to the debut of the Vega C, scheduled for 2022,” commented Giulio Ranzo, Avio’s CEO.
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