PARIS, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Europe's Arianespace has

launched the last Vega rocket, placing the Sentinel-2C satellite

into orbit under the European Union's Copernicus programme to

monitor Earth's environment.

The slender single-body rocket, which does not have boosters

strapped to its side unlike larger vehicles, streaked into the

night sky at a launch base in French Guiana at 10.50 p.m. local

time on Sept 4 (0150 GMT on Sept 5), streamed images showed.

The launch ends a 12-year career for the small launch

vehicle, designed by Italy's Avio. It is being replaced

by the updated Vega C, which is due to return to service later

this year after being grounded following a launch failure with

the loss of two powerful imaging satellites in December 2022.

Built by Airbus Defence & Space, Sentinel-2C will

replace Sentinel-2A, which is part of a pair of satellites

operating within the Copernicus programme.

It will be used to study deforestation, urban development

and emergencies such as forest fires, floods or volcanic

eruptions, Mauro Facchini, head of the Copernicus unit at the

European Commission, told reporters before the launch.

The European Space Agency, which partners the EU on the

project, has said Copernicus is the world's largest

environmental monitoring effort.

Together, the programme's six families of Sentinel

satellites aim to read the planet's "vital signs" from carbon

dioxide to wave height or temperatures of land and oceans.

In 2022, Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite images highlighted

severe drought damage to Italy's Po Valley.