The European Vega rocket failed for the second time during launch in the past two years

Late Monday night, a European rocket carrying two satellites failed in flight, resulting in the loss of payloads on board. It was the second major failure of this particular type of rocket in the past two years.

The rocket that failed is called Vega, one of the primary rockets developed by the European launch provider Arianespace. The vehicle took off last night from the main European spaceport in French Guiana. Aboard the rocket was a Spanish Earth imaging satellite called SEOSat-Ingenio, which would be operated by the European Space Agency, and another imaging satellite from France called TARANIS.

About eight minutes into the flight, the engine of Vega’s upper stage started. Soon after that, the rocket began to veer off course and its altitude began to decrease. Upon noticing the deviation, Arianespace tried to establish a signal with the rocket but ultimately failed to connect, indicating that Vega had fallen from orbit, destroying the two payloads on board. After reviewing the data, the company believes there was a problem with the system activating the upper stage motor.

“We can unfortunately confirm that the mission is lost,” said Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace, during a live stream of the launch last night. “You understand that I want to present my sincere apologies to our clients for this mission.” The rocket landed in an uninhabited area, according to Arianespace.

This is the second major failure of the Vega rocket in the past two years. In July 2019, a Vega rocket lost a UAE Armed Forces satellite, due to a structural failure that caused the vehicle to rupture mid-flight. Arianespace flew the Vega rocket just this year in September, launching a crop of 53 small satellites into orbit.