European space travel has suffered another setback with the loss of a Vega-C launch vehicle.

The failure of the mission, carried out by the rocket launch operator Arianespace, came early on Wednesday morning Central European Time after the first findings were made when the second stage engine was ignited.

Niklas Zaboji

Economic correspondent in Paris

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Arianespace announced that there was a pressure drop just under two and a half minutes after the launch from the spaceport in French Guiana.

The French space agency Cnes then ordered the destruction of the rocket.

There were no injuries or damage to property.

Arianespace and the European Space Agency ESA have set up a commission to investigate the incident.

Two Earth observation satellites from Airbus were on board the Vega-C.

They should supplement the so-called Pléiades Neo constellation of the European aerospace company, which should enable recordings with a resolution of 30 centimeters - currently the measure of all things on the market.

The satellites Pléiades Neo 3 and 4 of this constellation are already in earth orbit.

The fact that Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 have been lost hits Airbus hard, as the group is in tough competition with the American technology company Maxar, which also offers earth observations with a resolution of 30 centimeters.

Airbus declined to comment on Wednesday's incident.

According to its own statements, it has invested around 700 million euros in the launch and operation of the four satellites of the Pléiades Neo constellation.

The schedule is changing

For the unfortunate rocket, it was the first commercial rocket launch after its successful maiden flight last July, albeit almost three years late.

The Vega-C is produced by the Italian manufacturer Avio.

At 2.3 tons, it manages around 800 kilograms more payload than its predecessor, the Vega.

However, this is still well below the payload of the Ariane rocket, which is why the Vega-C is also intended to carry lighter satellites into space.

With two failures and one partial success in a total of 20 launches, the Vega, which has been in use since 2012, had a significantly higher error rate than the rockets in the Ariane series and the Falcon 9 from Tesla founder Elon Musk’s American competitor SpaceX.

The failure of the Vega-C mission threatens to further exacerbate the Europeans' lack of launch vehicles, now that the schedule for the upcoming planned missions is uncertain.

With the Ariane 5, whose production has ended, only two launches are possible, and the Ariane 6, after several delays, is not due to take off on its maiden flight until the end of 2023.

The medium-sized Russian-made Soyuz launch vehicles are no longer available to Arianespace following Moscow's withdrawal from space cooperation.

The Europeans therefore have to book missions with SpaceX, among other things.

They had just five rocket launches that year, while the Russians managed 22, China 59 and the US 76.

The Falcon 9 alone took off 59 times.