SWGL Fan Shop 2023

Vega VV17 fails, Taranis and SEOSAT-Ingenio satellites both lost

Poster: Arianespace

Paris, 17 November 2020. – A Vega rocket with France’s Taranis and Spain’s SEOSAT-Ingenio satellites on board failed yesterday, Arianespace said; both satellites were lost.

“8 minutes after liftoff of Vega mission VV17, following the first ignition of the engine of the Avum upper stage, a deviation of trajectory was identified, entailing the loss of the mission,” Arianespace announced. “Telemetry data analyses are in progress to determine the cause of this failure.”

The four-stage Vega rocket suffered the major failure after a normal lift-off on Monday evening local time, from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou.

The launcher was carrying the Spanish Earth observation satellite SEOSAT-Ingenio and the French weather research satellite Taranis. Both were lost.

The last time a Vega rocket failed was in July 2019, with Vega’s 15th mission, and its very first failure. The last Vega mission VV16 in September 2020, which carried 53 small satellites into orbit, was an overwhelming success.

Check Also

Space Café 33 minutes with Maya Glickman-Pariente, The Future of Satellite Operations: Embracing AI and Empowering the Next Generation

The  Space Café “33 minutes with Maya Glickman-Pariente“, CEO of SPACECIALIST, Head of Space Operations, SAS Founder of “My space academy,” in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global was conducted on 14th March 2023, about the future of satellite operations and the role of AI, as well as her advice to the next generation of women in STEM.