Europe’s Vega-C rocket returned to space, successfully carrying the Copernicus Sentinel-1C Earth-observation satellite into orbit from the European spaceport in French Guiana.
The vehicle lifted off at 10:20 p.m. Central European Time and reached space within eight minutes, the European Space Agency said. Vega-C released Sentinel-1C roughly one hour and 44 minutes after launch. ESA established contact with the spacecraft 11 minutes later and confirmed that it was safe in orbit.
The mission marked Vega-C’s first flight since its second mission and first commercial launch failed in December 2022. That rocket was lost about two and a half minutes after liftoff along with two Earth-imaging satellites. Investigators traced the failure to a motor anomaly, and the nozzle of the Zefiro 40 second-stage motor was redesigned during the two-year grounding, DW reported.
Sentinel-1C restores the Copernicus programme’s two-satellite radar constellation alongside Sentinel-1A. Sentinel-1B stopped collecting data after a technical failure and its mission ended in 2022. The new spacecraft carries a C-band synthetic-aperture radar that can image Earth’s surface by day or night and through cloud cover.
Its data support monitoring of Arctic sea ice, icebergs, glaciers, oil spills, ships, ground deformation, forests, water and land resources. ESA said Sentinel-1C also adds an automatic identification system designed to receive ship broadcasts, improving maritime traffic detection and tracking. Copernicus makes Sentinel data available free of charge.
The successful flight restored an operational launcher important to Europe’s independent access to space. Vega-C is designed for smaller scientific and Earth-observation payloads, while Ariane 6 covers heavier missions. The return followed Ariane 6’s first flight in July and reduced pressure created by the loss of access to Russian Soyuz rockets and delays in Europe’s replacement launch systems.
With both the launcher and satellite operating after separation, the mission closed Vega-C’s recovery phase and renewed the radar coverage used by European environmental, maritime and disaster-response services.
