spacetoday.net: ESA delays Vega C return to flight to late 2024

Posted: Sun, Oct 8, 2023, 11:07 AM ET (1507 GMT)
ESA has pushed back the return to flight of its Vega C rocket to late 2024. The agency said Monday that an investigation into an anomaly during a static-fire test of the rocket's Zefiro 40 motor in June concluded that the design of the motor's nozzle was not changed when prime contractor Avio replaced a throat insert in that nozzle, one of the recommendations after that motor was blamed in a December 2022 launch failure. The geometry of the new throat insert and its different thermo-mechanical properties contributed to the anomaly, where the throat insert and part of the nozzle were expelled about 40 seconds into the test. ESA said that there will be two static-fire tests of the motor to confirm its performance before the Vega C returns to flight, now planned for the fourth quarter of 2024. ESA and Arianespace said they are still working out how that will affect the manifest of missions for the rocket.