Rocket Report: Cause of Vega failure found, China seeks rocket customers

Enlarge / The mighty Delta IV Heavy rocket takes to the skies. (credit: Aurich Lawson/United Launch Alliance)

Welcome to Edition 2.14 of the Rocket Report! Not a whole lot of big rocket news this week, as the approach of Hurricane Dorian shut down so many operations along the space coast in Florida. However, that didn't stop happenings from around the world, including the completion of an investigation into the failure of the Italian-made Vega rocket.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar. (Note: the Rocket Report will not publish next week due to the author's travel schedule).

Vega rocket failure report finds cause. The Independent Inquiry Commission, tasked with analyzing the failure of Vega Flight VV15 in July, submitted its findings on Wednesday. The Commission identified the most likely cause of the anomaly as "a thermo-structural failure in the forward dome area of the Z23 motor." This is located in the second stage of the smallsat launcher.

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