Arianespace Awarded New Vega
C Launches For The Iride
March 14, Arianespace announced
having signed with ESA, who is acting on the behalf
of the Italian government, for the procurement of
two Vega C launches. The contract also includes an
option for a third dedicated launch. These launches,
scheduled for the last quarter of 2025 onwards from
the Guiana Space Center (CSG), will support the
deployment of the future Earth Observation
constellation IRIDE.
“I would like to thank the
Italian government, along with the European Space
Agency and the Italian Space Agency ASI, to entrust
Arianespace to deploy the state-of-the-art Earth
Observation constellation IRIDE with Vega C,” said
Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace. “To support
implementation of such constellations projects,
pivotal to a better understanding of the Environment
changes at a global scale and to improving life on
Earth, is at the core of our mission and we are
particularly excited to be part of this adventure.”
This new contract also
demonstrates the versatility and competitiveness of
the new European light launcher Vega C, whose
backlog has now grown to 15 launches. The Vega C is
an upgraded variant and is perfectly suited to serve
the Earth observation market because of its higher
performance and versatility. The Vega C is an ESA
program carried out in cooperation between public
institutions and private industry across 12 European
partner states. AVIO SpA (Colleferro, Italy) is the
prime contractor of Vega C, responsible for the
development of the launcher system and delivering to
Arianespace a launcher “ready-to-fly” at the Guiana
Space Center.
“The Italian government has
requested the European Space Agency to assist in the
implementation of the ambitious IRIDE Earth
Observation programme, funded by the PNRR” –
declared Simonetta Cheli, director of the Earth
Observation Programmes at the European Space Agency.
“The first major programme milestone – set for end
of March 2023 – is approaching and with this
contract ESA repays the trust of the Italian
government while confirming its confidence in
Arianespace and in the Vega C launch system. IRIDE
represents a unique growth opportunity for the
entire Italian space ecosystem.”
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