Redesigned Vega C engine passes static fire test

WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency says a successful test firing of a redesigned Vega C solid-state rocket engine is a major step toward getting the rocket back into flight by the end of the year.

Avio, the prime contractor for the Vega C, conducted a static fire test of the redesigned Zefiro-40 engine on May 28 at a company test center in Italy. The engine, used as the Vega C's second stage, operated for 94 seconds, as designed.

The Zefiro-40 was implicated in the failure of the second Vega C launch in December 2022, which an investigation blamed on faulty carbon-carbon material used in the engine nozzle. Avio found a new supplier for this material, but the nozzle failed during a static fire test in June 2023, leading to a redesign of the nozzle itself.

“Initial post-test examination indicates that the new nozzle assembly performed as intended throughout the test's expected 94-second burn duration, simulating nominal flight performance,” Avio said in a statement.

In a May 28 interview, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher called the successful test a key step in getting the rocket back into flight. “The thrust curve that was measured is nominal and follows the expected theoretical line, which means the engine is working well,” he said.

A second test firing is planned for October to confirm the engine's performance, but Ashcbacher called the test “the most important step” in returning the vehicle to flight. “Today’s confirms that the redesign of the nozzle with the new carbon-carbon inserts is good.”

The ESA and Avio said they were working to return the Vega C to flight by the end of the year, two years after the failure that grounded the rocket. A final flight of the original version of the Vega, which does not use the Zefiro-40, is planned for early September with the Sentinel-2C Earth observation satellite of the European Copernicus program.

The payload for the Vega C's return to flight is the Sentinel-1C radar imaging satellite, although Simonetta Cheli, director of ESA's Earth observation program, said in an interview on May 28 that this payload assignment had not yet been confirmed.

Aschbacher said in the interview that preparations were continuing for the first Ariane 6 flight in the first two weeks of July. A specific target date for the first launch attempt will be announced at the ILA Berlin air show in early June.

He said the Ariane 6 team was working on minor issues raised during a recently completed qualification review. “There’s nothing that’s an obstacle,” he said. “It still requires a lot of work, but nothing that worries me at this point that would make a launch within that two-week window impossible.”

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