The European Space Agency (ESA) agreed to Avio’s request in November that it take over the full operation of the Vega rocket family from Arianespace in addition to its construction duties. This suited both sides since Avio wanted more control and Arianespace was happy to rid itself of its troublesome child.
Despite a good start, Vega – and its successor Vega-C – have ultimately demonstrated poor reliability, to the point where it proved at risk of damaging the Arianespace brand. The move to transfer responsibility seemed to come just in time, as there was a further major embarrassment, which smacked of incompetence, at Avio.
Diagram of the Vega rocket. Courtesy: ESA
Two out of four spherical propellant tanks being prepared for the final launch of the Vega rocket went missing and were later found to have been destroyed, according to Andrew Parsonson of Europeanspaceflight.com. The tanks, which use UDMH/N2O4 propellants burned by the RD-868 engine, are needed by the AVUM upper stage.
They had been taken to the Avio production facility in Colleferro, Italy, for renovation. However, the parts were not properly tracked and the tanks were soon after reported missing. Although they were eventually recovered, it was revealed that they had been damaged by crushing at a scrapyard and placed… in a landfill. Unsurprisingly, the tanks were deemed no longer usable.
The debacle has threatened to delay the final Vega launch in 2024 to carry the Sentinel 1C optical satellite. Two tanks may be available from a test specimen (there are four and two will be proof tested) but these would need extensive refurbishment and they remain a gamble. Avio is also looking at the possibility of retrofitting larger tanks from the Vega-C rocket’s AVUM+ into the standard AVUM stage.
Comment by David Todd: Europeanspaceflight.com has subsequently reported that ESA, which part funds Vega and the launch of Sentinel-2C, has no plans to investigate this embarrassing quality control failure and, to put it bluntly, rank incompetence. This is madness. Everyone makes mistakes. But if you don’t learn from them, you will repeat them.
