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Paris, November 17, 2020. – Human error in the integration of the fourth stage appears to be a probable reason for the loss of the Vega VV17 mission from Kourou on Monday night, Arianespace said.
Initial investigations, conducted overnight with available telemetry and production data, led to the assumption that “a problem with the integration of the fourth stage AVUM nozzle activation system” was the most likely cause of the loss of control. of the pitcher, Arianespace said.
The company indicated “a series of human errors” and a “production and quality problem”, “not a design”; two cables connecting the fourth stage thrust vector control appear to have been reversed.
The Vega began dropping eight minutes into the flight Monday night and immediately after the fourth stage was switched on. “The launcher fell in a completely uninhabited area near the launch area scheduled for the Zefiro 9 leg,” said Arianespace.
Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) have established an independent commission of inquiry chaired jointly by Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA’s director of space transport, and Stéphane Israël, managing director of Arianespace.
“The Commission will provide detailed evidence to explain why no steps have been taken to identify and correct the integration error,” said Arianespace, “and formulate a road map for the return to flight of the Vega in conditions of complete reliability.”
The Vega mission was to bring two publicly funded European satellites into orbit, SEOSAT-Ingenio from ESA and Taranis from France. Both spacecraft were lost.
The Avum upper stage (Attitude Vernier Upper Module) is developed by the Italian company Avio with an engine built in Ukraine.
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