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Vega
Vega (LARES) [ESA]
Vega is an ESA project for a small, solid-fueled launcher for low earth orbit payloads. It is compatible with payload masses ranging from 300 kg to 2500 kg, depending on the type and altitude of the orbit required by the customers. The benchmark is for 1500 kg into a 700 km-altitude polar orbit.
The first stage was originally a two-segment version of the Ariane-5 booster, but later in the development process a complete new first stage was developed. The second and third stages will be versions of the italian Zefiro motor. A liquid fuel propulsion module will form stage 4, which is powered by a Ukrainian RD-843 engine of R-36M2 heritage.
Due to the reignitable 4th stage, Vega is able to place multiple payloads into orbit. In particular, it offers configurations able to handle payloads ranging from a single satellite up to one main satellite plus six microsatellites.
The Vega launch vehicles is launched from the refurbished ELA-1 complex, now redesignated ELV, at Kourou.
| Version | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vega | P80FW | Zefiro-Z23 | Zefiro-Z9 | AVUM / RD-843 |
| Performance (kg) | LEO | LPEO | SSO | GTO | GEO | MolO | IP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vega | 2300 | 1740 | - | - | - | - |
No: TNr: Type: Serial: Date: LS Payload
1 1 Vega VV01 13.02.2012 Ko ELV LARES / ALMASat 1 / e-st@r / Goliat / MaSat 1 / PW-Sat 1 / ROBUSTA / UniCubeSat-GG / XaTcobeo / LARES-A&H/SS 2 2 Vega VV02 07.05.2013 Ko ELV Proba V / VNREDSat 1a / ESTCube 1 3 3 Vega VV03 30.04.2014 Ko ELV KazEOSat 1 4 4 Vega VV04 11.02.2015 Ko ELV * IXV / AVUM VV04 5 5 Vega VV05 23.06.2015 Ko ELV Sentinel 2A 6 6 Vega VV06 03.12.2015 Ko ELV LISA Pathfinder 7 7 Vega VV07 16.09.2016 Ko ELV PerúSat 1 / SkySat 4 / SkySat 5 / SkySat 6 / SkySat 7 8 8 Vega VV08 05.12.2016 Ko ELV Göktürk 1A 9 9 Vega VV09 07.03.2017 Ko ELV Sentinel 2B 10 10 Vega VV10 02.08.2017 Ko ELV OPTSAT-3000 / VENµS 11 11 Vega VV11 08.11.2017 Ko ELV Mohammed VI A (MN35-13A) 12 12 Vega VV12 22.08.2018 Ko ELV Aeolus 13 13 Vega VV13 21.11.2018 Ko ELV Mohammed VI B (MN35-13B) 14 14 Vega VV14 22.03.2019 Ko ELV PRISMA 15 15 Vega VV15 11.07.2019 Ko ELV F Falcon Eye 1 16 16 Vega VV16 03.09.2020 Ko ELV . Athena / ION-SCV 1 / ESAIL / UPMSat 2 / NEMO-HD / ŃuSat 6 / GHGSat C1 / Flock-4v 1, ..., 26 / Lemur-2 112, ..., 119 / SpaceBEE 10, ..., 21 / FSSCat A, B / NAPA 1 / TARS / EG 2 / OSM 1 CICERO / DIDO 3 / PICASSO / SIMBA / TRISAT / AMICal-Sat / TTÜ100 17 17 Vega VV17 17.11.2020 Ko ELV F SEOSAT-Ingenio / TARANIS 18 18 Vega VV18 29.04.2021 Ko ELV Pléiades-Neo 3 / NORSAT 3 / AII-Bravo / ELO Alpha / Lemur-2 138, 139 19 19 Vega VV19 17.08.2021 Ko ELV Pléiades-Neo 4 / BRO 4 / RADCUBE / Sunstorm / LEDSAT 20 20 Vega VV20 16.11.2021 Ko ELV CERES 1 / CERES 2 / CERES 3 Planned: xx 21 Vega VV. xx.xx.202x Ko ELV ? xx 22 Vega VV. xx.xx.202x Ko ELV ? Failures: 15: Structural failure in stage 2 16: 2 Lemur-2 satellites failed to deploy 17: AVUM stage TVC cabeling error Launch sites: Ko = Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), Kourou, French Guiana* = Suborbital Note: IXV payload suborbital, AVUM upper stage reached orbit
