Success for Vega C VV25 mission: Sentinel-1C in orbit

Colleferro (Rome), December 6, 2024 – Vega C successfully launched the Sentinel-1C Earth Observation Satellite, a dedicated mission for the European Commission Copernicus Program. The payload was put into a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of 700 kilometers 1 hour and 43 minutes after lift-off.

The first three solid propellant stages pushed Vega C for about seven minutes, then the AVUM+ performed three ignitions before releasing Sentinel-1C in the target orbit.

The Sentinel-1C satellite will provide continuous all-weather, day and night imagery for land and maritime monitoring. C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging has the advantage of operating at wavelengths that are not obstructed by clouds or lack of illumination.

Vega C is capable to deliver up to 2,350 kilograms in SSO. The launcher can deliver its payloads on three different orbits on the same mission, instead of the two previously possible with Vega thanks to the AVUM+ engine that allows for seven re-ignitions.

Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio commented: “We are once again proud to contribute to the European Copernicus program and more broadly to an independent access to space for Europe through our launchers. With Vega C we are ready to deliver our customers’ payloads to orbit with a scheduled increase in launch cadence for the upcoming years. I want to thank all the Avio team that worked hard on Vega C, with the collaboration of our partners ESA and Arianespace”.