Arianespace is to launch the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth Explorer Biomass satellite from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The mission called “VV26”, will place its passenger on board a Vega C launcher, into Sun-Synchronous Orbit at an altitude of around 666 km. Spacecraft separation will occur 57 minutes after lift-off.

Forests, the ‘Earth’s green lungs’, absorb around 8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. Deforestation and degradation, particularly in tropical regions, are causing carbon stored in forests to be released back into the atmosphere. Quantifying the global carbon cycle is essential to understanding the subsequent implications for our climate.

The Biomass satellite carries the first P-band synthetic aperture radar to observe Earth from space. Thanks to its long wavelength, around 70 cm, the radar signal can penetrate all the way through the forest canopy. This allows it to collect information on the height and structure of different forest types and measure the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests and how it changes over time. In addition, the Biomass mission will map subsurface geology in deserts, the ice structure of ice sheets and the topography of forest floors.

Biomass, manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space, will spend at least five years making detailed observations and witnessing at least eight growth cycles in the world’s forests. Observations from this new mission will also lead to better insight into the rates of habitat loss and, as a result, the effect this may have on biodiversity in the forest environment.

Courtesy of Arianespace.

Vega (Italian: Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata, French: Vecteur européen de génération avancée, literal translation: Vector European Generation Advanced) joined the family of launch vehicles at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in 2012. It has demonstrated impressive capabilities ranging from equatorial to Sun-synchronous orbits, from orbital to suborbital missions, from single to multiple payloads.

Unlike most small rockets, Vega is able to lift payloads ranging from a single satellite up to one main satellite plus additional small satellites and place them into separate orbits on a single mission.

Vega is designed to deliver about 1500 kg into a 700 km-altitude circular orbit at 90° inclination. This makes Vega the ideal launch vehicle for most scientific and Earth observation missions. Launching into an equatorial orbit enabled Vega to carry the maximum payload capacity of 2 tonnes with ESA’s experimental IXV spaceplane.

Vega Elements

Vega is a 3 m-diameter single-body vehicle, standing 30 m tall with a liftoff mass of 137 tonnes. It has three solid-propellant stages and a liquid-propellant upper module for attitude and orbit control as well as satellite release.

Vega History

Vega officially became an ESA programme in June 1998, when the Agency inherited the small-launcher programme of Italy’s ASI space agency.

Following Vega’s debut on 13 February 2012, ESA ensured a smooth transition of Vega from development to exploitation. This included securing the initial exploitation of Vega by supporting the development of complementary technical advances and demonstrating a range of capabilities and flexibility over five more launches.

Vega moved to full commercial exploitation in December 2015.

At the same time, ESA refined and improved the launch system configuration and operations. This lowered costs mainly by speeding up the launch campaign.

The Vega launches in 2015 (IXV, Sentinel-2A and LISA Pathfinder) displayed the capacity of the system to reach three missions per year, providing confidence to customers and helping Arianespace to maintain its lead in this market segment.

In a proof of concept flight in 2020, Vega demonstrated a new modular payload dispenser called the Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) designed to meet the need for affordable routine rideshare missions to space for multiple small satellites.

Caption courtesy of ESA.

The Ensemble de Lancement Vega (ELV) pad at the Centre Spatial Guyanais (Guiana Space Centre) was previously used to launch the Europa, Ariane 1, Ariane 2, and Ariane 3 rockets under a different name.

It hosted its first launch on November 5, 1971, when a Europa rocket carried the STV-4 payload. The pad was last used in 1989 for the final Ariane 3 launch before going unused until 2012, when Vega began operations.

Located in French Guiana, the ELV pad is part of the French and European spaceport near Kourou, on the northern coast of South America.

Guiana Space Centre

The Guiana Space Centre has been operational since 1968, serving the European Space Agency (ESA), the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), and commercial companies such as Arianespace and Azercosmos.

A total of nine different rocket types have launched from the spaceport, including three active rockets and six retired vehicles.

The current launch vehicles operating from the Guiana Space Centre include:

Ariane 5 – for heavy payloads.

Soyuz 2 (provided by Russia) – for medium-mass satellites.

Vega – for smaller spacecraft.

The spaceport is also preparing for the upcoming Ariane 6, Vega C, and Vega E rockets, which are currently under development.

Photo courtesy of European Space Agency - S. Corvaja