Launches / Vega-C

Past launch Launched successfully

KOMPSAT-7

Vega-C, flown by Arianespace

Vega-C lifting off with the KOMPSAT-7 mission
Image via The Space Devs.

This was Arianespace's 6th launch of 2025, and its 323rd in all.

Counting every operator, it was the 286th orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2025, and the third from Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV).

Launched
Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, 5:21 p.m. UTC
Launch site
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Rocket
Vega-C
Operator
Arianespace

Watch the webcast →

The mission

KOMPSAT-7 is the follow-up model of KOMPSAT-3A whose mission is to provide high-resolution satellite images to satisfy South-Korea's governmental and institutional needs.

Type
Earth science
Destination
Sun-synchronous orbit

The rocket

Vega-C is a single-body rocket nearly 35 m high with that weighs 210 tonnes on the launch pad. As with Vega, its main elements are three solid-propellant stages, an upper stage powered by a reignitable liquid-propellant engine and a payload fairing. Vega-C's P120C first stage replaces Vega’s smaller P80 to provide a significant increase in thrust at liftoff. It is also used as boosters (2 or 4) for the Ariane 6 rocket.

The operator

Arianespace

Arianespace SA is a multinational company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane programme. Their vehicles launch exclusively from French Guiana in South America.

Sector
Commercial
Based in
France
Founded
1980
Run by
David Cavaillolès, CEO

328 launches so far, 313 of them successful. The last 16 in a row went to plan.

arianespace.com → Wikipedia →

The launch site

It went up from Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV) at Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana.

See the pad on a map →

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