Vega launcher
Vega VV09 liftoff with Sentinel-2B
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| Function | Small-lift launch vehicle |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Avio |
| Country of origin | Italy, European Union |
| Cost per launch | US$37 million[3] |
| 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 (700km / inclination 90°) |
1,430 kg (3,150 lb) |
| Payload to Elliptic orbit (1500x200km / inclination 5.4°) |
1,963 kg (4,328 lb) |
| Payload to SSO (400km) | 1,450 kg (3,200 lb) |
| Associated rockets | |
| Comparable | |
| Launch history | |
| Status | Active |
| Launch sites | Guiana Space Centre SLV |
| Total launches | 11 |
| Successes | 11 |
| First flight | 13 February 2012 |
| Last flight | 7 November 2017 |
| First stage – P80 | |
| Length | 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) |
| Thrust | 2,261 kN (508,300 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 280 s (2.7 km/s) |
| Burn time | 110 s |
| Fuel | HTPB (Solid) |
| Second stage – Zefiro 23 | |
| Length | 8.39 m (27.5 ft) |
| Diameter | 1.9 m (6.2 ft) |
| Empty mass | 2,850 kg (6,280 lb) |
| Gross mass | 28,850 kg (63,600 lb) |
| Thrust | 871 kN (195,800 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 287.5 s (2.819 km/s) |
| Burn time | 77 s |
| Fuel | HTPB (Solid) |
| Third stage – Zefiro 9 | |
| Length | 4.12 m (13.5 ft) |
| Diameter | 1.9 m (6.2 ft) |
| Empty mass | 1,315 kg (2,899 lb) |
| Gross mass | 11,815 kg (26,048 lb) |
| Thrust | 260 kN (58,450 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 296 s (2.90 km/s) |
| Burn time | 120 s |
| Fuel | HTPB (Solid) |
| Upper stage – AVUM | |
| Length | 1.7 m (5.6 ft) |
| Diameter | 1.9 m (6.2 ft) |
| Empty mass | 147 kg (324 lb) |
| Gross mass | 697 kg (1,537 lb) |
| Engines | 1 RD-843 |
| Thrust | 2.42 kN (544.0 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 315.5 s (3.094 km/s) |
| Burn time | 667 s |
| Fuel | UDMH/N2O4 |
Vega (Italian: Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata,Advanced Generation European Carrier Rocket), is an expendable launch system in use by Arianespace jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency. Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on February 13, 2012. Arianespace has ordered launchers covering the period till at least the end of 2018.
It is designed to launch small payloads — 300 to 2,500 kg satellites for scientific and Earth observation missions to polar and low Earth orbits. The reference Vega mission is a polar orbit bringing a spacecraft of 1,500 kilograms to an altitude of 700 kilometers.
The rocket, named after Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, 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 be used as side booster of the Ariane 6. Italy is the leading contributor to the Vega program (65%), followed by France (13%). Other participants include Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden.
During the mid-1990s, French firms Aérospatiale and SEP, along with Italian firm Bombrini-Parodi-Delfino (BPD), commenced discussions on the development of a proposed Ariane Complementary Launcher (ACL). Around the same time, Italy began to champion the concept of a new solid-propellant satellite launcher. This proposed launcher, dubbed Vega, was promoted as functioning to expand the range of European launch capabilities; Vega would be capable of launching a 1,000kg payload capability into a 700km polar orbit. From the onset, the first of three stages would be based on the solid booster of the existing Ariane 5 expendable launch system while the second and third stages would be make use of the in-development Zefiro rocket motor.
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Wikipedia