![]() Vega's VV05 before liftoff with Sentinel-2A | |
Function | Small-lift launch vehicle |
---|---|
Manufacturer | Avio |
Country of origin | European multi-national[a] |
Cost per launch | US$37 million |
Size | |
Height | 30 m (98 ft) |
Diameter | 3 m (9.8 ft) |
Mass | 137,000 kg (302,000 lb) |
Stages | 4 |
Capacity | |
Payload to polar orbit | |
Altitude | 700 km (430 mi) |
Orbital inclination | 90° |
Mass | 1,430 kg (3,150 lb) |
Payload to elliptic orbit | |
Altitude | 1,500 km × 200 km (930 mi × 120 mi) |
Orbital inclination | 5.4° |
Mass | 1,963 kg (4,328 lb) |
Payload to SSO | |
Altitude | 400 km (250 mi) |
Mass | 1,450 kg (3,200 lb) |
Associated rockets | |
Derivative work | Vega C |
Comparable | |
Launch history | |
Status | Active, retiring |
Launch sites | Guiana Space Centre, ELV |
Total launches | 21 |
Success(es) | 19 |
Failure(s) | 2 |
First flight | 13 February 2012 (multiple payloads)[1] |
Last flight | 9 October 2023 (THEOS-2 and others) |
First stage – P80[2][3][4] | |
Height | 11.7 m (38 ft) |
Diameter | 3 m (9.8 ft) |
Empty mass | 7,330 kg (16,160 lb) |
Gross mass | 95,695 kg (210,971 lb) |
Maximum thrust | 2,261 kN (508,000 lbf) |
Specific impulse | 280 s (2.7 km/s) |
Burn time | 107 seconds |
Propellant | HTPB / AP |
Second stage – Zefiro 23 | |
Height | 8.39 m (27.5 ft) |
Diameter | 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) |
Empty mass | 2,850 kg (6,280 lb) |
Gross mass | 28,850 kg (63,600 lb) |
Maximum thrust | 871 kN (196,000 lbf) |
Specific impulse | 287.5 s (2.819 km/s) |
Burn time | 71.6 seconds |
Propellant | HTPB / AP[5] |
Third stage – Zefiro 9 | |
Height | 4.12 m (13.5 ft) |
Diameter | 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) |
Empty mass | 1,315 kg (2,899 lb) |
Gross mass | 11,815 kg (26,048 lb) |
Maximum thrust | 260 kN (58,000 lbf) |
Specific impulse | 296 s (2.90 km/s) |
Burn time | 117 seconds |
Propellant | HTPB / AP[6] |
Fourth stage – AVUM | |
Height | 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) |
Diameter | 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) |
Empty mass | 147 kg (324 lb) |
Gross mass | 697 kg (1,537 lb) |
Powered by | 1 × RD-843[7] (RD-868P)[8] |
Maximum thrust | 2.42 kN (540 lbf) |
Specific impulse | 315.5 s (3.094 km/s) |
Burn time | 317 seconds |
Propellant | UDMH / N2O4 |
Vega (Italian: Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata, French: Vecteur européen de génération avancée, lit. 'Vector European Generation Advanced')[9] is an expendable small-lift launch vehicle operated by Arianespace, produced by Avio, and jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on 13 February 2012.[4] It is the 8th most launched small lift launch vehicle in history. The final flight of the rocket is scheduled for September 2024, after which the vehicle will be replaced by the improved Vega C, already in use.
It is designed to launch small payloads, 300 to 2,500 kilograms (660 to 5,510 lb) satellites for scientific and Earth observation missions to polar and low Earth orbits.[10] The reference Vega mission is a polar orbit bringing a spacecraft of 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) to an altitude of 700 kilometres (430 mi).
The rocket, named after Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra,[11] is a single-body launcher (no strap-on boosters) with three solid rocket stages: the P80 first stage, the Zefiro 23 second stage, and the Zefiro 9 third stage. The upper module is a liquid rocket called AVUM. The improved version of the P80 stage, the P120C, will also be used as the side boosters of the Ariane 6. Italy is the leading contributor to the Vega program (65%), followed by France (13%).[12] Other participants include Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden.[13]
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).The Italian-built Vega rocket is named after the second-brightest star in the northern hemisphere