The manufacturer placed Avio “under European supervision”
deviation – The failure of the Vega C at the end of 2022 is due to a composite part, which was supplied by a Ukrainian subcontractor. Avio, the Italian manufacturer of the small rocket, must review its manufacturing and quality control processes.
Two and a half months after the failure of the first commercial flight of the Vega C, a new version of the small Italian rocket, the commission of inquiry set up in the operation presented its conclusions on Friday. After analyzing the flight data, the failure was due to deterioration of a part (the throat nozzle) of the Zephiro 40 rocket engine, which was provided by the Ukrainian contractor Youzhnoye.
However, take-off went well. On December 20, 2022, Vega C lifted off at 10:47 pm (local time) from Kourou, French Guiana, with two Earth observation satellites, Pléiades Neo 5 and 6, on behalf of Airbus Defense & Space. But after two minutes and twenty-seven seconds, the missile deviated from its trajectory, at an altitude of more than 100 kilometers …
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