‘The time has come for a ‘European ambition’ for space. Here and now”, declared last February Josef AschbacherCEO of the European Space Agency (ESA) during the European Space Summit, held in Toulouse (France). A complete declaration of intent that indicates that the old continent does not want to be left behind in the new space race, which is no longer just a matter of the most powerful government agencies.
Countries have entered the game a priori, little focused on space exploration (such as South Korea, India, Israel and even Spain, which in the future will have its own space agency); but above all very powerful private companies, such as those of the tycoons Elon Musk (SpaceX) o Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin), who apart from their own ships, have multi-million dollar agreements with different organizations, both public and private. No one wants to miss out on their piece of the space pie.
spatial independence
One of the short-term goals for ESA is not to be so dependent on other large agencies, and for that its own ships and rockets are key. If all goes well, next Wednesday the 13th, ESA will have a new vehicle in its space fleet: the Vega-C rocket.
Intended for loads up to 2.2 tons (exceeding its predecessor, the Vega rocket, which has been operating since 2012 by more than half a ton) and 34.8 meters high (five more than Vega), the Vega-C will be able to transport up to 700 kilometers above the earth’s surface from dozens of cubeSats to a laboratory that will orbit the Earth for about two months, then return to collect the experiments in zero gravity.
“This is a spectacular increase in capacity compared to Vega, but also at a reduced cost,” explained Stefano Bianchi, head of ESA’s Flight Programs department, at a press conference. “We now have a completely new launcher that builds on what we had, but radically reduces its cost per kilo shipped.” A mix between the powerful Ariane rockets (which have sent such delicate loads to space as the James Webb Space Telescope) and the versatile Vega.
How is the new European rocket
Vega-C features a new and more powerful first stage, P120C, based on the Vega P80. Above is a new second stage, Zefiro-40and then the same third stage Zefiro-9 which is used in Vega. The upper stage that can be re-ignited is also upgraded. GRANDMOTHER+ it has increased liquid propellant capacity, to deliver payloads to multiple orbits based on mission requirements and to enable longer operational time in space, to enable extended missions.
The motor P120C will do double duty, with two or four units acting as additional boosters for Ariane 6. “Sharing this component streamlines industrial efficiency and improves the profitability of both launchers,” Bianchi said.
Undoubtedly, the most striking thing about Vega-C is that it has different warheads, as ‘heads’, to which different charges can be attached, depending on the need. The module Venus It serves to transport satellites further from low Earth orbit (above 2,000 kilometers in height; deploy satellite constellations, support lunar missions or services in orbit. For its part, Vampire it can support large payloads of up to 2.3 tons. To launch two medium-sized satellites at the same time, Vega-C has the module Vespa C. And to transport up to 35 cubeSats and up to 7 microsatellites, the Esa has SSMS-C. In addition, in the coming years the Space Riderthe space laboratory that will return to Earth after two months in orbit carrying out all kinds of experiments in microgravity.
What Vega-C will carry on its maiden flight
The main payload of this inaugural flight will be LARES-2, a scientific mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Once in orbit, LARES-2’s precise trajectory will be tracked by laser from ground stations. The purpose of the mission is to measure the so-called ‘reference frame drag’, a space-time distortion caused by the rotation of a massive body like the Earth as predicted by Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Its predecessor, LARES, was the main payload on Vega’s maiden 2012 flight.
Six cubeSats make a secondary payload package: on the one hand, AstroBio CubeSat (Italy) will test a solution to detect biomolecules in space; on the other, Greencube (Italy) will carry out an experiment to grow plants in microgravity; in addition, ALPHA (Italy) aims to help understand the phenomena related to the Earth’s magnetosphere, such as the lights of the northern and southern hemispheres. In addition, they will fly Trisat-R (Slovenia), MTCube-2 (France) and Celesta (France), which will study the effects of a hostile radiation environment on electronic systems.
ESA Member States participating in Vega-C are Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.