LAUNCH TIME | July 13, 2022 - 13:13 |
LAUNCH PROVIDER | European Space Agency |
CUSTOMER | Italian Space Agency (ASI) |
ROCKET | Vega C |
LAUNCH SITE | Ariane Launch Area 1 - Kourou, French Guiana |
PAYLOAD MASS | 350 kg |
DESTINATION | Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) of 5,893 km |
LANDING SITE | The first stage will crash into the Atlantic Ocean |
WEATHER | - |
The European Space Agency will launch the Italian satellite LARES 2, and other small satellites, with the new Vega-C rocket.
LARES 2
LARES 2 (LAser RElativity Satellite-2) was built for ASI by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics.
The satellite is a 42 cm sphere covered with reflectors; its orbit will be carefully monitored by the lasers of the ground station to measure the so-called frame-dragging effect (or Lense-Thirring), i.e. a distortion of space-time caused by the rotation of a massive body such as the Earth, as predicted by the Theory of Einstein's General Relativity. Its considerable mass, almost 295 kg, guarantees that it will be disturbed as little as possible by the solar wind or even by photons, capable of rocking a conventional spacecraft.
The LARES2 satellite hosts a homogeneous distribution of 303 COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) 1-inch COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) corner cube retroreflectors (or Corner Cube Retroreflectors, CCR), an unprecedented solution for this type of mission.
The predecessor, LARES 1, was launched in the unnagural flight of the first version of VEGA rockets.
Other satellites on board
AstroBio will test a solution for biomolecule detection, a technology that could help monitor astronauts' health and look for signs of life during planetary exploration missions.
Greencube carries an experiment for growing plants in microgravity conditions, along with sensors and an internal camera to monitor the health of these "micro vegetables".
Trisat-R aims to improve space radiation modeling and develop high-performance electronic component protection techniques.
MTCube-2 will expose different types of flash memory to the space radiation environment, monitoring errors and relaying messages to the amateur radio community.
Celesta will study short circuits in electronic systems caused by energetic particles and compare the radiation environment in orbit with that produced in CERN's CHARM radiation chamber.
ALPHA will examine phenomena related to the Earth's magnetosphere, such as the Northern and Southern Lights, and will demonstrate technologies designed to contain the effects of radiation.
Vega C
Vega C is the new version of the Vega rocket (European Advanced Generation Carrier).
The rocket consists of four stages, the first three with solid fuel and the fourth with liquid fuel, the final height of the rocket (including fairigns) is 34.8 m.
The first stage The first stage is a P120C which, on take-off, provides 4,500 kN of thrust. The P120C will be used as a side booster for the new Ariane 6 rocket.
The second stage The second stage contains about 36 t of solid propellant and, thanks to the new Zefiro-40 engine, provides an average thrust of 1100 kN.
The third stage The third stage contains 10 t of solid propellant and with the Zefiro-9 engine, derived from Vega, produces 314 kN of thrust.
The fourth stage The fourth stage AVUM + is the only liquid propellant stage of the Vega-C rocket. The use of liquid propellant allows the stage to be restarted several times in order to position the loads in precise orbits. At the end of the mission this stage will turn on its engine one last time to perform a deorbit ignition, in order to avoid the creation of space debris. The engine of this stage produces 2.42 kN of thrust.
Launch animation:
The live broadcast will start at approximately T-30 minutes.
English Livestream:
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