Kourou .... conto alla rovescia per i nuovi vettori ....

[TT-1 Pinto]

Presso la base ESA di Kourou ferve il lavoro nell'imminenza del lancio dei nuovi vettori "Soyuz" e "Vega" .... e già si pensa ad una nuova generazione di "Ariane" ....

 

 

ESA counting down to historic launches 

 

By: Dan Thisdell London (3 hours ago)

 

Source:

 

 

At the European Space Agency (ESA), fingers remain crossed as the countdown continues towards its much-anticipated Soyuz launch on 20 October.

 

Not only will the three-stage ST-B rocket will be making its first-ever flight from ESA's launch centre in Kourou, French Guiana, its payload will be the first two satellites for Europe's Galileo navigation constellation.

 

Final assembly began on 12 September, following electrical and mechanical tests in August.

 

The horizontal integration is taking place inside a purpose-built building at the spaceport, with roll-out to the launch pad planned for 14 October.

 

 

Soyuz assembly is carried out at a dedicated facility in Kourou - © ESA

 

 

A second Soyuz launch, carrying two more Galileo spacecraft, is to follow in December.

 

Then, thanks to cash freed up by some €500 million ($673 million) in cost savings, ESA will embark on a fast-track effort to purchase and launch enough satellites to provide near-global coverage by the end of 2014. This is some seven years behind the original plan, but well ahead of expectations at the beginning of this year.

 

Some of the new satellites may prove more capable than existing designs, so the full extent of coverage available remains to be seen. Ultimately, the complete Galileo plan calls for 27 spacecraft and three orbiting spares by 2019.

 

European Commission vice-president for industry Antonio Tajani has been Galileo's champion in Brussels, and has described the October launch as of "historical importance", as Europe seeks to match or exceed US capability in with a technology that will bring significant safety, operational and economic benefits to European citizens.

 

VEGA EN ROUTE

 

Meanwhile, to top off what ESA director general Jean-Jacques Dordain has called a "year of launchers", components of ESA's first Vega rocket this week left Avio's factory in Colleferro, near Rome, for sea transport to Kourou in anticipation of the type's maiden flight in December 2011 or January 2012.

 

The medium-lift Soyuz and light category Vega will complement ESA's heavy lift Ariane 5s, to provide a fully flexible range of launch options at Kourou.

 

Vega, whose first stage is one of the world's biggest carbonfibre single-piece structures, is designed to launch satellites of up to 1.5 tonnes into 700km (435 mile) polar orbits.

 

As French Guiana is much closer to the equator than Soyuz's normal launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, added boost from the Earth's spin will nearly double its maximum payload to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) to 3 tonnes.

 

Ariane 5 can lift 10 tonnes to GTO, though ESA member governments are thought to be moving towards the approval of a mid-life upgrade to increase its payload capacity.

 

A longer-term project is also under way to develop a high-thrust cryogenic engine, that could form the basis of ESA's next-generation launcher.

 

It will not fly until about 2025, but is intended to provide a medium-lift capability in a modular design, with a re-ignitable upper stage and options for strap-on solid propellant boosters offering extra thrust.

[TT-1 Pinto]

IL primo vettore "Soyuz" è stato lanciato, nell'ambito del programma "Galileo", dal poligono ESA di Kourou ....

 

 

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Soyuz_with_first_Galileo_satellites_launched_from_Kourou_999.html

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iW2ZRROkro

 

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Imminente il primo lancio del "Vega" ....

 

The European Space Agency will finish its so-called "year of launchers" a few weeks short of realising the maiden flight of its third vehicle, but the Vega light rocket remains on course for a January 2012 launch from ESA's Kourou, French Guiana spaceport.

 

Vega, designed to launch satellites of up to 1.5 tonnes into 700km (380nm) polar orbits, will complement the medium-lift Soyuz - which made its first Kourou flight in October, with Europe's first two Galileo navigation satellites as payloads - and ESA's venerable heavy lifter, Ariane 5.

.... il resto dell'articolo .... http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/vega-on-track-for-january-maiden-flight-from-esas-french-guiana-launch-site-365888/ .... è dedicato alle migliorie che verranno apportate all' "Ariane 5".

Modificato 13 Dicembre 2011 da TT-1 Pinto

[Dominus]

Finalmente, ci sarebbe da aggiungere.

[TT-1 Pinto]

Ancora un ritardo per "Vega" ....

 

Vega maiden launch could slip into February 

 

By: Dan Thisdell (London - 7 hours ago)

 

Source:

 

 

European Space Agency launch operator Arianespace plans a busy 2012, with seven Ariane 5 heavy-lift missions and three medium-lift Soyuz flights from ESA's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, along with two Soyuz launches at Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome.

 

The highlight of the year, though, will arguably be the maiden flight of ESA's new light launcher, Vega, but the 26 January launch date set late last year now looks to be uncertain. Arianespace chief executive Jean-Yves Le Gall, speaking in Paris on 5 January to detail 2012 launch plans, merely said Arianespace and ESA were making ready for the flight, which is now listed on Arianespace's launch planner as "late January-early February".

 

ESA director general Jean Jacques Dordain is likely to announce a flight date as early as Monday 9 January, when he will detail the agency's agenda for the coming year. Dordain will be pressed hard on this point, as Vega cannot move too far beyond 26 January in order to complete the Kourou launch before preparations begin for the next Ariane 5 flight on 9 March, which will carry ESA's third Automated Transfer Vehicle robotic supply ship to the International Space Station.

 

The first Vega mission will orbit the Lares and AlmaSat-1 satellites, along with several microsatellites.

 

Ariane 5 marked its 46th consecutive successful launch during 2011, and the 9 March ISS mission will be the first of seven scheduled for 2012. Following the first Kourou launch of Soyuz, in October 2011, which orbited the first two Galileo navigation satellites, Arianespace plans to make three 2012 flights from Kourou and two from Baikonur. The next Soyuz flight from Kourou is set for this summer, to orbit a second pair of Galileo satellites.

 

During 2012, Arianespace launched five Ariane 5s and four Soyuz rockets, including two from Kourou, to loft 29 payloads - including half of the 16 geostationary orbit satellites launched worldwide.

 

The company will post total revenues of about €985 million ($1.26 billion) for 2011, and expects to reach break even.

[TT-1 Pinto]

VEGA .... la finestra di lancio si apre il 9 Febbraio ....

 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMDA5I8RXG_index_0.html

 

LARES ....

 

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/space-time-and-vegas-heavy-burden-367361/

Modificato 28 Gennaio 2012 da TT-1 Pinto

[TT-1 Pinto]

On 13 February, the European Space Agency will perform the first qualification flight of its brand new Vega launch vehicle.

Fonte .... http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMZM4TXXXG_index_0.html

 

Inoltre .... http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Vega/SEMNLCWWVUG_0.html

[TT-1 Pinto]

Il lancio del "Vega" sarà visibile in diretta sul sito dell'ESA ....

 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM5Y9WX7YG_index_0.html

[TT-1 Pinto]

"Vega" .... tutto pronto per il lancio ....

 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMP6HYXHYG_index_0.html

[TT-1 Pinto]

Lanciato ....

 

 

 

Dal sito dell'Agenzia Spaziale Europea ....

 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMBTKYXHYG_index_0.html

 

 

Con incluso il video del lancio ....

 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMJ8LYXHYG_index_0.html

 

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Generale euforia per il successo e .... scetticismo dei Tedeschi .... che potrebbero però ottenere la realizzazione di un 4° stadio di concezione europea ....

 

Fonte: AviationWeek.com

 

European Vega Scores Flawless Debut

 

By Amy Svitak (PARIS - Feb. 13, 2012)

 

 

Europe’s new Vega rocket lifted off like a streak from its launch pad at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou during a flawless Feb. 13 debut that carried nine satellites to orbit: the Lares laser relativity satellite, Italy’s Almasat-1 and seven cubesats developed by European universities.

 

The mission qualifies the new Vega system, including the four-stage launch vehicle, ground infrastructure and operations, to operate alongside the Ariane 5 and Europe-oriented Soyuz rockets from the recently expanded South American spaceport in equatorial French Guiana.

 

“In a little more than three months, Europe has increased the number of launchers it operates from one to three, widening significantly the range of launch services offered by the European operator Arianespace,” said ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain, referring to the first launch of Russia’s Soyuz from French Guiana on Oct. 21, 2011. “There is not anymore one single European satellite which cannot be launched by a European launcher service.”

 

Nearly a decade in the making, Vega is expected to fly once or twice a year for a core market of European governments led by the 19-nation European Space Agency (ESA). The new rocket is slated to launch five ESA-backed missions before lofting its first commercial payloads — a pair of Sentinel spacecraft under the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security program — between 2014 and 2016.

 

“You’ve all placed your money on Vega and you’ve won the bet — well done!” said Jean-Yves Le Gall, chief executive of the Evry, France-based Arianespace launch consortium that will manage Vega operations.

 

Led by Italy, ESA governments have invested about €700 million ($922 million) in Vega. In addition to development costs they have also committed €400 million for the Vega validation program, which includes five ESA-financed Vega launches of government payloads between 2013-15. ESA has committed to loft a handful of science and Earth-observation satellites atop the new rocket.

 

First proposed in the mid-1990s, Vega was envisioned as a small-class rocket capable of lofting 1,000 kg (2,200 lb.) to low Earth orbit for around $20 million, a price that was set 15% below other Western launchers in operation at that time. But disagreements over ESA member participation and launch vehicle configuration delayed the start of Vega’s development until 2003 and led to substantial performance modifications.

 

Now capable of lofting 1,500 kg to low-Earth orbit, the single-body Vega vehicle is composed of three solid-propellant stages for the boost phase: The P80FW first stage, the Zefiro-Z23 second stage and the Zefiro-Z9A third stage. A fourth stage, dubbed Avum, is designed to deliver accurate payload injection into orbit.

 

Vega’s managers have said that, assuming a successful first flight, they plan to ask ESA ministers during budget negotiations in November to approve modifications to the launcher that would anchor it more solidly in Europe by replacing the rocket’s Ukrainian-built upper stage with European hardware, preferably from Germany.

 

Italy is financing nearly 60% of Vega’s development, an unusual arrangement for an ESA program. Although Italy struggled to win French support for the rocket early on, France now pays 25% of the vehicle’s cost. Germany, up to now, has maintained a skeptic’s distance from the program. But Johann-Dietrich Woerner, head of the German Aerospace Center DLR, said Germany is open to the idea of building the upper stage but would not discuss it until the first flight.

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

CDD ....

 

.... Come Dovevasi Dimostrare .... alla luce del riuscito lancio .... ora i Tedeschi si fanno avanti ....

 

SPACEFLIGHT: Partners look to enhance Vega 

 

By: Dan Thisdell (London - 2 hours ago)

 

Source:

 

For evidence that winners have friends, look no further than Vega. As soon as Europe's new small launcher made its spectacularly successful maiden flight, Italian space agency head Enrico Saggese received a call from German counterpart Johann-Dietrich Woerner who, along with his congratulations, expressed enthusiasm that his agency, DL, might join forces with Saggese's ASI to develop the launcher further.

 

Specifically, DLR is thought to be keen to help devise a European alternative to the final, fourth stage of Vega, which is the tried-and-tested RD-869 restartable engine built in Ukraine and also used as the third stage on the Dnepr launch vehicle and its predecessor, the SS-18 (SATAN) intercontinental ballistic missile.

 

Vega programme boss Stefano Bianchi says the choice of the Ukrainian fourth-stage engine was made partly to save costs, and he admits it is a candidate for replacement. However, much of the motivation behind developing Vega was to enhance Europe's independent capability to access space, so there is thought to be some discomfort at relying on an import for such a key component. The restartable stage is needed to put multiple payloads into different orbits.

 

German interest in getting involved in a successful programme is understandable. The Italians have championed Vega for the best part of a decade, at times with little interest from France, which set Europe's space programme in motion with its original Ariane rockets and still regards itself as the lead player in European launcher development. Germany, meanwhile, has also been left behind by Italy.

 

But as Bianchi observes, cost is a critical consideration and so there should be no change to Vega hardware for 10 years or more than 20 launches: "You need to consolidate or you can't be competitive. You can't keep changing."

[TT-1 Pinto]

Una missione più complessa .... in attesa del secondo lancio di Vega ....

 

For ‘flexible’ Vega, second launch a step up in complexity ....

 

The European Space Agency is readying the 2 May second flight of its Vega light launcher in expectation of repeating the success of last year's maiden launch despite a far more complicated flight plan and the added burden of carrying a commercial payload.

 

Fonte .... http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/for-flexible-vega-second-launch-a-step-up-in-complexity-384870/

[TT-1 Pinto]

Il secondo lancio di Vega è imminente ....

 

Seguite in diretta il lancio di Vega con Proba-V ....

 

 

Link .... http://www.esa.int/ita/ESA_in_your_country/Italy/Seguite_in_diretta_il_lancio_di_Vega_con_Proba-V

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Il lancio è stato rinviato causa maltempo ....

 

http://www.arianespace.com/news-press-release/2013/5-4-2013-VV02-launch-postponed.asp

 

.... la nuova data verrà stabilita sulla base dell'evoluzione meteorologica ....

 

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=Kourou&MR=1

 

 

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Qualche dettaglio sulle cause del rinvio ....

 

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Launchers/Strong_easterly_winds_postpone_Vega_countdown

 

 

E il meteo, almeno per i prossimi giorni, rimane sfavorevole ....

[TT-1 Pinto]

Forse .... domani ....

 

http://www.esa.int/ita/ESA_in_your_country/Italy/Seguite_in_diretta_il_lancio_di_Vega_con_Proba-V2

[TT-1 Pinto]

Lanciato ....

 

 

 

Il video ....

 

 

ESA .... http://www.esa.int/ita/ESA_in_your_country/Italy/Il_lanciatore_dell_ESA_Vega_segna_un_nuovo_successo_con_Proba-V

 

 

 

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Un paio di commenti provenienti da fonti specializzate ....

 

Flightglobal .... http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/vegas-second-success-confirms-functionality-385689/

 

AWIN First (AW&ST) .... http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_05_07_2013_p0-576830.xml

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Un filmato rivela l'esistenza di un progetto turco per un nuovo vettore spaziale ....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UTVNZrRQpA

 

Certo è che la somiglianza col "Vega" è notevole ....

 

La notizia è stata lanciata da Amy Svitak sul blog "On Space" di AW&ST ....

 

http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385&plckPostId=Blog:04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385Post:e946bb77-9271-4e84-95f5-f668b4ffdf47

 

Mi sorge però il dubbio che la giornalista abbia preso una cantonata .... perché non sono riuscito a trovare altre informazioni che confermino l'esistenza di tale progetto ....

 

O forse sono io che non sono capace di fare una ricerca adeguata ....

 

 

 

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

O forse sono io che non sono capace di fare una ricerca adeguata ....

 

Ora ho trovato altri articoli della stessa Svitak .... dai quale si evince che, in effetti, la Turchia intende realizzare, nel quadro di un ampio ed ambizioso programma spaziale, un nuovo razzo vettore ....

 

http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385&plckPostId=Blog%3A04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385Post%3A57f45144-0457-4536-984c-ae486f972f58

 

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_06_10_2013_p54-583373.xml

 

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_07_12_2013_p0-596476.xml

 

Inoltre .... http://www.thalesgroup.com/Press_Releases/Markets/Space/2013/Satellite_integration_and_test_center_in_Turkey_passes_major_milestone/

 

 

Si tratterà dunque di vedere quali saranno gli ulteriori sviluppi .... ossia .... sarà la Turchia in grado di sviluppare tale veicolo (apparentemente di categoria analoga a quella del "Vega") in maniera autonoma o dovrà trovare un partner (che possieda la necessaria esperienza nel settore) cui associarsi?

Modificato 25 Luglio 2013 da TT-1 Pinto

[TT-1 Pinto]

Il corposo carnet di Vega ....

 

Vega on track to meet volume targets as ESA lines up run of 10 launches for 2015-18 ....

 

The European Space Agency’s newest rocket, Vega, is set for a busy launch schedule, with 10 flights planned over three years from late 2015.

These flights, together with Vega’s first five launches – including the February 2012 maiden flight and a May 2013 launch that put Vega’s first commercial payload into orbit – form the European Space Agency’s so-called Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment campaign (VERTA), which seeks to establish Vega as an unsubsidised, cost-competitive vehicle to put scientific, Earth observation and even telecommunications satellites into orbit for European and non-European institutions and commercial customers.

 

Fonte .... http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/vega-on-track-to-meet-volume-targets-as-esa-lines-up-run-of-10-launches-for-2015-18-393381/

[TT-1 Pinto]

Nuovo lancio (il sesto) di un vettore Soyuz da Kourou ....

 

 

"GAIA is successfully launched by a Soyuz from French Guiana but it is Ariane 5 that gets 18 construction orders" .... http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2013/12/gaia-successfully-launched-soyuz-french-guiana/

 

"ESA Lofts $1.3 Billion Star-Mapping Mission" .... http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_12_19_2013_p0-648831.xml

 

"La mission Gaia est lancée" .... http://www.air-cosmos.com/espace/la-mission-gaia-est-lancee.html

 

Il video ....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKi3c-BufRk

 

Il complesso di lancio "Soyuz" realizzato a Kourou .... http://www.russianspaceweb.com/kourou_els_design.html

 

 

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Si avvicina il terzo lancio di Vega .... non senza qualche preoccupazione sulle future forniture da parte dell'Ucraina del motore razzo RD-869 del quarto stadio del vettore ....

 

As the European Space Agency makes final preparations for the third flight of its new Vega light launcher, unrest in Ukraine will be about as far from its operators’ minds as Kourou is from Kiev – but once VV03 is complete on Monday 28 April, programme officials will continue their watch on the tense situation in a country that supplies a critical component of what is otherwise a Western Europe-built vehicle.

 

Fonte .... "ESA keeps eye on Ukraine crisis as Vega launch nears" .... http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/esa-keeps-eye-on-ukraine-crisis-as-vega-launch-nears-398550/

[TT-1 Pinto]

Quinto lancio di Vega ..... un ulteriore successo .....

 

"Second Copernicus environmental satellite safely in orbit" ..... http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-2/Second_Copernicus_environmental_satellite_safely_in_orbit

 

"Sentinel-2A in orbita" ..... http://www.asi.it/it/news/sentinel-2a-in-orbita