ROME/PARIS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Italy's Vega rockets have been grounded and an investigation is under way after the latest model failed on its second mission, destroying two Earth-imaging satellites and further complicating Europe's access to space on top of the war in Ukraine. A spokesperson for Arianespace said both the Vega C and its Vega predecessor had been grounded pending the findings of an investigative commission co-chaired by technical officials from the European Space Agency and Arianespace itself. Italy's Vega C rocket is due to play an increasingly crucial role in Europe's access to space after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine forced Arianespace to stop using Russian Soyuz vehicles. But Arianespace has been forced to scrap plans to announce a Vega C launch schedule for 2023 in coming weeks. Analysts said only a few operational alternatives to Vega C exist, such as potential rideshares aboard U.S.-based SpaceX's bigger Falcon 9 or Firefly Aerospace's new Alpha launcher, which can loft roughly half the payload weight of Vega C.Other options, though somewhat larger than Vega C, include rockets from Japan and India.

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