This was stated by the Italian Minister of Enterprise and Production, Adolfo Urso, Ukrinform reported with reference to Reuters.

The tripartite agreement was signed at the European Space Agency (ESA) ministerial meeting held in Seville, Spain.

The launch of Europe’s new Ariane 6 heavy launch vehicle, manufactured by Airbus-Safran joint venture ArianeGroup, has been delayed due to technical problems. The first test launch will take place in 2024, four years later than originally planned.

The fifth generation of the Ariane rocket family, designed to launch the payload into a low-reference orbit (geo-transition orbit), was withdrawn from production in July.

The smaller Vega-C has been in preservation since December 22 after a failed launch. Italy has advocated for the rocket to be sold separately from Arianespace, a subsidiary of ArianeGroup that currently sells and manages all major European launches.

The agreement signed on Monday paves the way for the possibility of Vega-C being operated independently by the Italian company Avio, in addition to existing agreements with Arianespace, the statement said.

The issue of launch vehicles is important as Europe faces the problem of access to space following delays in the launches of Ariane 6 and Vega-C, and Western European countries have lost access to the Russian Soyuz program due to the war that has begun. by Russia in Ukraine.

According to Ukrinform, the European Space Agency (ESA) shared new photos of the Ariane 6 rocket on the launch pad before engine tests.