00:00Now, the European Vega rocket is due to blast off into space this evening after a 24-hour delay due to electrical issues.
00:08The flight will be the last for the European light launcher before the transition to the Vega-C,
00:14which is more powerful and more modern.
00:17And that is an important milestone in the future of European space travel.
00:23To tell us a bit about this, our science editor Julia Seager is with me now.
00:27Julia, tell us first of all then about this latest launch.
00:30So, it's set to actually happen.
00:32So, we have the confirmation, as you said, they tweeted,
00:35Arianespace tweeted earlier today saying that they've made all the additional checks,
00:40everything is back to normal and they'll be able to launch indeed later on tonight.
00:43But whatever happens, this will be the last mission of Vega, the Vega launcher,
00:48which is designed by the Italian firm Avio.
00:50It's served for 12 years and actually has a really good track record
00:55with 19 successful flights out of the 21 attempts.
00:58This is an entire page in European history that we're actually going to be turning.
01:02This is a light launcher, which means that it launches small light satellites into lower orbit,
01:08usually scientific or Earth observation satellites, for instance.
01:12On this last mission, for instance, it's going to send a satellite called Sentinel-2C.
01:17It's part of the European Copernicus program, which is absolutely amazing, as you can see here.
01:22Many satellites orbiting Earth, getting a lot of different data.
01:25Here you can see that they already launched 2A and 2B and 2C is just going to add to that.
01:30And they're going to be orbiting Earth, getting a lot of data
01:32and contributing to very precise applications about agriculture,
01:37monitoring water quality and managing natural disasters.
01:41And I'll be glad to tell you more about the Copernicus program in another segment.
01:45But let's go back to why this last launch is so important.
01:48It's important because right after that, Vega-C, which is the new version,
01:53the more high-tech version, more powerful and modern version, is set to take over.
01:57The problem is that it's been grounded since 2022,
02:01when there was an accident and they had to self-destruct the vessel a couple of minutes after launch.
02:07So what's going to be even more perhaps strategic is going to be the first launch,
02:13when it goes back to the launch pad of Vega-C.
02:16Here there's a lot of pressure on ESA's and Arianespace's shoulders.
02:21They can't get it wrong because it will determine,
02:24the success of this flight will determine or not, if Europe is back in the space race.
02:29Right, Julia. That's because Europe as well is emerging from something of a crisis with its launcher.
02:35That's right. We're calling it actually the launcher crisis,
02:38because what happened is that for several months,
02:41Europe just didn't have independent access to space anymore.
02:44It wasn't able to send the satellites that it wanted to,
02:47let it be in lower orbit or higher orbit.
02:49So if you look at the heavy launchers, Ariane 5 was retired.
02:52It was impossible to call upon the Russian Soyuz because of geopolitical reasons.
02:58And at the same time, Ariane 6 was running very late.
03:01So since then, we've done the inaugural flight of Ariane 6,
03:04which has given more hope to Europe again.
03:07But that was the situation on the heavy launchers.
03:09On the light launchers, same thing, the accident with Vega-C.
03:12So even though there's a lot of cooperation in space,
03:15you still need to be sovereign and you need to have independent access to space,
03:19once again, for the lower orbit or for the higher orbit,
03:22because there are different types of satellites.
03:24Right. And just tell us finally, then, a bit about Vega-C.
03:27So Vega-C, what happened is that there was actually a problem with the engine.
03:30They've done a lot of different modifications.
03:32They now say that they're ready, a couple of few tests in October,
03:35but they'll be ready to launch as early as the end of November.
03:39So we'll have to wait and see for that.
03:41ESA is planning several launches for 2025,
03:44six launches for Ariane 6 and four for Vega-C.
03:48You have to understand that this is a huge technical challenge,
03:51but it also is a commercial challenge for Europe.
03:53They're going to have to find enough launch orders
03:56to be able to make this industry profitable.
03:58And what we're seeing is that they're really struggling to find their place
04:01in this new market, which has changed radically,
04:04especially since SpaceX came into the race.
04:08Julia Seager, thanks very much indeed.
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