ESA has contracted Arianespace to launch the EU’s Sentinel-1C Earth observation satellite aboard an Avio-built Vega-C rocket. Sentinel-1C is expected to take over the duties from Sentinel-1B, which suffered an anomaly in December. In January, ESA officials said that recovery efforts had failed. By late February, they identified a 28V power-regulated bus as the root […]
Image: Amazon, Arianespace, & Beyond Gravity. Compiled by Andrew Parsonson. Amazon sent shockwaves throughout the space world yesterday. The largest-ever commercial launch deal gave a kick of nitrous to the European space machine. Beyond the headlines: Arianespace won big, snagging its largest single contract ever. But that wasn’t Europe’s only winner: Amazon’s dealmaking included the largest […]
Image credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique vidéo du CSG – JM Guillon The European Space Agency announced last week that it intends to develop an upgraded solid rocket booster for the Ariane 6 and Vega vehicles. So, what’s new? Well, the proposed P120C+ booster will be ~1 meter taller than the current P120, which would allow for an […]
