The European Space Agency said Friday that an investigation into the failure of a rocket carrying two Earth observation satellites last year showed that the cause was a faulty part obtained from Ukraine.
BERLIN — The European Space Agency said Friday that an investigation into the failure of a rocket carrying two Earth observation satellites last year showed that the cause was a faulty part obtained from Ukraine.
The Vega C rocket fell into the ocean less than three minutes after liftoff from a spaceport in French Guiana in December. Arianespace, which provides the launch service, said at the time that a reduction in pressure was observed in the second stage of the rocket, “leading to the indefinite termination of the mission.”
“The cause of the failure was the gradual deterioration of the nozzle of Zefiro 40,” the European Space Agency said.
The Zefiro 40 second stage, made by the Italian space company Avio, suffered “an unexpected thermo-mechanical over-erosion” of a carbon component obtained in Ukraine, it said.
Arianespace’s Pierre-Yves Tissier said the conclusion was based on the analysis of the same parts and still needs to be confirmed by further tests.
ESA added that during the inquiry “no weakness in the design of the Zefiro 40 was revealed.”
The launch was the third failure of the previous eight launches of the Vega and Vega C rockets, an embarrassment for the agency and its partners.
“We will overcome this very difficult moment,” Arianespace chief Stephane Israel told reporters.
ESA chief Josef Aschbacher added that measures will now be implemented “to get out of this crisis faster.”
The launch was intended to take two Earth observation satellites made by Airbus, Pleiades Neo 5 and 6, into orbit. The satellites will be part of a constellation capable of taking images of any point in the world with a resolution of 30 centimeters (12 inches).