Vega flight VV16 will take off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on Sept. 1. It will carry with it 53 satellites on its new dispenser called the SSMS, or the Small Spacecraft Mission Service.
This flight is a proof-of-concept demo to validate a new rideshare launch service that will be sued for small satellites. The SSMS dispenser, which was designed by ESA, has a modular design and is lightweight, and can be configured to meet the mission requirements.
The new service aims to expand space technology in Europe by making it easier for those with light satellites to find convenient opportunities for launching. The ride-along will share the launch expense and make it more affordable. This flight is funded partly by the EU's Horizon 2020 program.
Vega will progressively release its 53 satellites in a coordinated sequence in a Sun-synchronous orbit some 500 km above Earth. ESA contributed to the development of four onboard payloads - three CubeSats: FSSCat, PICASSO, and Simba, which carries pioneering AI technology named Φ-sat-1; and the 113 kg ESAIL microsatellite.
On Sunday, two telecom satellites, BSAT-4B and Galaxy-30, and the Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-2-) were launched into orbit by the Ariane 5 rocket. At 11:04 pm BST, Arianespace declared liftoff from Spaceport in Kourou, Guyana, French Guiana. There are also plans for significant updates to the launch vehicle.
This launch is the first in Arianespace since the pandemic started. All operations in French Guiana to comply with COVID-19 steps had been suspended since March 16.
Even this launch requires new Ariane 5 upgrades. Now the rocket has a new tech named Kassav, the first iteration of an autonomous tracking device developed in partnership with ArianeGroup and CNES.
Kassav has its own dedicated telemetry that does not rely on the operations of Ariane 5 to send in real-time information on the speed and location of the rocket to the Spaceport Flight Safety team in Europe.
The system was financed by CNES, which is also evaluating safety. ESA has funded and oversaw the installation on Ariane 5 meanwhile. For now on, the launch vehicle will be using Kassav including on Ariane 6 flights.
Ariane 5 operates at Europe's Spaceport via Arianespace. It can carry payloads of more than 10 tons into the orbit of geostationary transfer and more than 20 tons into low-Earth orbit. The success complements perfectly with that of the Vega light-lift launch vehicle in Europe, and Soyuz.
Eventually, Ariane 5 will be replaced by the Ariane 6 rocket, with a first test flight scheduled for 2021.
