Vega flight VV16, also called SSMS PoC Flight (for ''Small Spacecraft Mission Service Proof of Concept Flight''), was the launch of the

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, an ...

rocket. The launch was also notable as it was the first

launch following the accident of the VV15 launch in July 2019 that caused the loss of FalconEye1 satellite.

Payload

This first

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

rideshare commercial flight for 21 customers embarked a total of 65 satellites (53 satellites to be released by the launch vehicle directly plus an additional 12 that were later released by one of them) arranged in the modular SSMS dispenser. Of the 53 satellites that were released, 7

microsatellites A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. ...

weigh between 15.4 kg and 150 kg (one of them contained 12

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...

s), while the other 46 are smaller

s (between 0.25U and 6U) weighing between 0.250 kg and 7 kg:

Launch campaign

Launch campaign activities were significantly affected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. To prevent the spread of the epidemic in

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

and protect

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximatel ...

employees, all launch activities were suspended on 16 March 2020. Operations for VV16 and Ariane flight VA253 could not resume until 28 April 2020. VV16 activities were listed among the top priorities at the reopening of the Guiana Space Center on 11 May 2020. It was initially scheduled to take place on 19 June 2020 at 01:51:10 UTC but got postponed due to unfavourable high-altitude winds. The launch was then postponed to take place on 27 June 2020, and later to 29 June 2020 due to the weather conditions, and had to be postponed again until 17 August 2020. Then postponed due to Ariane 5 flight VA253 launch on 15 August 2020 at 22:04 UTC.

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the operation and marketing of the Ariane programme. The company offers a number of different launch vehicles: the heavy ...

announced on 1 September 2020 that the mission was postponed.

Typhoon Maysak The name Maysak has been used to name four tropical cyclones in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The name was contributed by Cambodia and is a kind of tree. * Severe Tropical Storm Maysak (2002) (T0223, 29W) – formed far away from landmass. *Tropi ...

is forecast to move near the South Korean island of

Jeju Jeju may refer to: * Jeju Island (Jejudo), an island near South Korea * Jeju Province (formerly transliterated Cheju), a province of South Korea comprising Jejudo **Jeju City, the biggest city on Jejudo **Jeju dog, a dog native to Jejudo ** Jeju l ...

, the site of a telemetry station needed to track the

Vega rocket Vega ( it, Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata, or french: Vecteur européen de génération avancée, or en, European Vector of Advanced Generation, meaning "Advanced generation European carrier rocket") is an expendable launch system in ...

after it lifts off from

. The tracking station will be secured ahead of the typhoon's arrival. "A new launch date will be set based on the evolution of the tropical storm's situation over the Jeju station and its consequences", Arianespace said in a statement. The launch date was further adjusted to 2 September 2020, then on 3 September 2020 at 01:51:10 UTC.

Flight

The flight was launched from the ELV launch pad in

Kourou Kourou () is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It i ...

, Centre Spatial Guyanais. It deployed all satellites into 2 slightly different

sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

s: the 7 heaviest satellites were separated at an altitude of roughly 515 km (starting 40 minutes and 25 seconds until 52 minutes and 35 seconds after liftoff), before the upper stage was re-ignited to place the 46 lightest satellites at an altitude of approximately 530 km (starting 1 hour 42 minutes and 16 seconds until 1 hour 44 minutes and 56 seconds after liftoff).

References

External links

Vega flight VV16
at

{{Arianespace launches Vega (rocket) 2020 in French Guiana Rocket launches in 2020

Payload

Launch campaign

Flight

See also

References

External links