Will the first European space “carpooling” finally take off? After several cancellations, the Vega rocket is to be launched on September 1 by Arianespace. Initially scheduled for March, the VV16 mission was postponed four times, in particular because of the coronavirus, reports Numerama .
This flight is a first for Arianespace. It is indeed a shared flight, for which several companies have joined forces to jointly finance the (high) cost of a rocket launch. In total, Vega must carry no less than 53 satellites from 21 customers from 13 countries.
More shots of the Vega VV16 payload stack #Vega # VV16 #CSG #ESA pic.twitter.com/dPmrIIhCz8
- DutchSpace (@DutchSpace) June 9, 2020Small satellites, a market of the future
For Arianespace, it is also a technological challenge aimed at proving the reliability of the Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS), a system used to launch small satellites, adjustable according to the load carried. A challenge that is all the more important for the French company as small satellites and nanosatellites represent a market of the future.
According to the company's projections, "200 to 300 nanosatellite should be launched each year over the next decade," Arianespace said. The space company is not alone at the time: the competitor Space X already managed a shared flight last June.
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- Ariadne
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- Carpooling