Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Vega Flight VV16

For its sixth mission in 2020 and the first Vega flight of the year, Arianespace will orbit 53 satellites on the Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) Proof of Concept (PoC) flight, performed on behalf of 21 customers. With this mission, designated Flight VV16, Arianespace underscores its compreh...

ESA Web TV

A selection of highlights of the latest news from ESA’s activities. ESA continues to work during the Covid-19 pandemic, from monitoring air quality to keeping satellites in orbit – with some of our engineers driving spacecraft from quarantine. Astronaut support engineer Romain Charles shares nine ti...

SSMS POC

Overview

Destination: Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Mission: Dedicated Rideshare

Sun-Synchronous Orbit Ariane Launch Area 1 Kourou, French Guiana #VV16

The Vega POC (Proof Of Concept) flight will be the first mission of the SSMS (Small Spacecraft Mission Service), a modular carbon fiber dispenser, a program initiated by ESA in 2016, with the contribution of the European Commission. For all the European partners involved, its purpose is to address the burgeoning institutional and commercial small spacecraft market with a new rideshare concept. Payload includes dozens of satellites: Athena, ION CubeSat Carrier, ESAIL, NEMO-HD, GHGSat C1, six Flock-v cubesats, several Lemur-2 cubesats, twelve SpaceBEE nanosats, FSSCat A & B, RTAF-Sat, DIDO 3, IGOSat, PICASSO, PINO, PIXL, QARMAN, SIMBA, TRISAT, Casaa-Sat, TTU-100, and more.

Infographic

Geoff Barrett is an independent graphic artist that creates launch infographics for space flight events.

Vega

Family: Vega
Configuration:

Vega is the smallest lifter in the current Arianespace family.

See Vega Details
Specifications
  • Stages
    4
  • Length
    29.9 m
  • Diameter
    3.025 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    2.6 m
  • Launch Mass
    137 T
  • Thrust
    2974 kN
Family
  • Name
    Vega
  • Family
    Vega
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Vega
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $37000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    1500 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    1450 kg

Avio S.p.A

Circle Image
CEO: Giulio Ranzo Founded: 1908 Successes: 0 Failures: 0 Pending: 0

Agency Type: Commercial

Avio S.p.A. is an Italian company operating in the aerospace sector with its head office in Colleferro near Rome, Italy. Founded in 1908, it is present in Italy and abroad with different commercial offices and 10 production sites.

INFO WIKI

Related News

SpaceNews

Arianespace launches Vega on return-to-flight mission with 53 smallsats

Spaceflight Now

Vega rocket deploys 53 satellites on successful return to flight mission

Spaceflight Now

Arianespace’s first smallsat rideshare mission ready for another launch attempt

Spaceflight Now

After weather delays, Arianespace pauses Vega launch operations to recharge batteries

SpaceNews

Yahsat hires new CFO • Vega launch delayed to August • Tim Peake joins Skyrora advisory board

Kourou, French Guiana

Ariane Launch Area 1


LVM-3 (GSLV Mk III)
Success
2 days, 18 hours ago
OneWeb 18
Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad - Sriharikota, Republic of India

A batch of 36 satellites for the OneWeb satellite constellation, which is intended to provide global Internet broadband service for individual consum…


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 6 hours ago
Starlink Group 5-5
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 56 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
4 days, 13 hours ago
The Beat Goes On
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Onenui Station, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Payload consists of 2 second generation Earth-imaging satellites for BlackSky. They are part of a constellation of 60 Low Earth Orbit Earth imagin…


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
5 days, 15 hours ago
Kosmos 2567 (Bars-M No. 4)
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Payload identity uncertain. Bars-M is the second incarnation of the Bars project, which was started in the mid 1990ies to develop a success…


Terran 1
Failure
5 days, 18 hours ago
Good Luck, Have Fun (Maiden Flight)
Launch Complex 16 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

Maiden launch of the Terran 1 rocket developed by Relativity Space.


Kuaizhou
Success
6 days, 13 hours ago
Tianmu-1 03-06
Unknown Pad - Jiuquan, People's Republic of China

Small meteorology research satellites using GNSS radio occultation by CASIC subsidiary Xiyong Microelectronics Park. 01 & 02 were launched on Gala…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
SES-18 & SES-19
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

SES-18 & SES-19 are two communications satellites built by Northrop Grumman.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Starlink Group 2-8
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 52 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 3
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Gaofen 13-02
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Gaofen is a series of civilian Earth observation satellites developed and launched for the China High-definition Earth Observation System (CHEOS), a …


Electron
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Stronger Together
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) - Wallops Island, Virginia, USA

Payload consists of 2 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites for Capella Space. These 100-kg class satellites will expand Capella’s existing SA…