Vega-C

Active

Avio S.p.A (Avio)

July 13, 2022

Description

Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    1
  • Max Stage
    4
  • Length
    30.1 m
  • Diameter
    3.0 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    ―
  • Launch Mass
    136.0 T
  • Thrust
    2974.0 kN
  • Apogee (Sub-Orbital)
    1000.0 km
Family
  • Name
    Vega-C
  • Family
    ―
  • Variant
    ―
  • Alias
    ―
  • Full Name
    Vega-C
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $48000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    1500.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    ―
  • Direct Geostationary
    ―
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    ―

Avio S.p.A

Commercial
CEO: Giulio Ranzo
Avio 1908

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.

Upcoming Spaceflights

Vega-C | Biomass

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD March, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Biomass is an Earth observation satellite launched as a part of ESA Earth Explorer program. It will be using a P-band synthetic aperture radar to collect data on the height of forests, allowing scientists to determine the amount of biomass and carbon stored there.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | Sentinel-1D

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD June, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Sentinel-1D carries an advanced radar technology to provide an all-weather, day-and-night supply of imagery of Earth’s surface as part of the Sentinel-1 constellation.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | CO3D

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD June, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

CNES-Airbus Defence & Space constellation of four small satellites designed to map the globe in 3D from low Earth to serve public and private sector needs.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | MAIA

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD November, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Unknown Mission

There are no mission or payload details available for this launch.

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Vega-C | EAGLE-1

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

SES satellite to support the end-to-end secure Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) system for Europe.

Low Earth Orbit
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Vega-C | FLEX

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

The Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) satellite is a part of ESA's Earth Explorer program. The satellite will map vegetation fluorescence to quantify photosynthetic activity.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | CSG-3

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

CSG-3 is an Earth observation satellite for the Italian Space Agency, part of a reconnaissance constellation using synthetic aperture radars operating in the X-band.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | IRIDE 1

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

First dedicated launch for the European Space Agency's IRIDE Earth observation constellation.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE)

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to investigate the interaction between Earth’s protective shield – the magnetosphere – and the supersonic solar wind.

Elliptical Orbit
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Vega-C | Korean Multi-purpose Satellite 6 (KOMPSAT-6)

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Sixth South Korean Earth observation satellite of the KOMPSAT series. It is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar with a ground resolution between 0.5 and 20 meters.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | MicroCarb

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Microcarb is a small satellite designed to map sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2)—the most important greenhouse gas — on a global scale.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | PLATiNO 2

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Unknown Mission

There are no mission or payload details available for this launch.

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Vega-C | Altius

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

ALTIUS is a satellite mission proposed by the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy to monitor the distribution and evolution of stratospheric ozone in the Earth's atmosphere.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | PLATiNO 1

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Unknown Mission

There are no mission or payload details available for this launch.

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Vega-C | IRIDE 2

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Second dedicated launch for the European Space Agency's IRIDE Earth observation constellation.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | KOMPSAT-7

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD January, 2026
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

KOMPSAT-7 is the follow-up model of KOMPSAT-3A whose mission is to provide high-resolution satellite images to satisfy South-Korea’s governmental and institutional needs.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | CSG-4

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2026
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

CSG-4 is an Earth observation satellite for the Italian Space Agency, part of a reconnaissance constellation using synthetic aperture radars operating in the X-band.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | ClearSpace-1

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2026
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

First debris removal mission by the Swiss startup ClearSpace. Contracted by the European Space Agency, it is designed to catch and de-orbit part of a Vega rocket from Low Earth Orbit using four articulated arms.

Low Earth Orbit
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Vega-C | Sentinel-3C

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2026
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 constellation, which provides high-accuracy optical, radar and altimetry data for marine and land services.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | Sentinel CO2M-B

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2026
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Sentinel CO2M-B carries a near-infrared and shortwave-infrared spectrometer to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by human activity, providing the EU with a unique and independent source of information, to assess the effectiveness of policy measures, and to track their impact towards decarbonizing Europe and meeting national emission reduction targets.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | Sentinel CO2M-A

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2026
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Sentinel CO2M-A carries a near-infrared and shortwave-infrared spectrometer to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by human activity, providing the EU with a unique and independent source of information, to assess the effectiveness of policy measures, and to track their impact towards decarbonizing Europe and meeting national emission reduction targets.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | Space Rider

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2027
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Maiden flight of the European Space Rider (Space Reusable Integrated Demonstrator for Europe Return).

Low Earth Orbit
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Vega-C | FORUM

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2027
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

FORUM (Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring) is a satellite from the European Space Agency designed to provide insight into Earth's radiation budget using a Fourier transform spectrometer.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | FORUM

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2027
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

FORUM (Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring) is a mission from the European Space Agency (ESA) carrying a Fourier transform spectrometer. It is designed to measure Earth’s outgoing radiation in the far-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum that has previously never been measured from space.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | Sentinel-3D

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD November, 2028
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Sentinel-3D is the fourth satellite in the Sentinel-3 constellation, which provides high-accuracy optical, radar and altimetry data for marine and land services.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | Harmony

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2029
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Harmony, ESA's 10th Earth Explorer mission, consists of 2 satellites that will orbit Earth in tandem with a Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite in various configurations. The Harmony satellites’ synthetic aperture radar instruments will receive the Sentinel-1 satellite's radar signals that bounce back, or ‘backscatter’, from Earth’s surface. At the same time, Harmony’s thermal-infrared instruments provide complementary observations of the sea surface as well as the position and motion of clouds above it.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | TRUTHS

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2030
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

TRUTHS (Traceable Radiometry Underpinning Terrestrial- and Helio-Studies) is a a ‘standards laboratory in space’, setting the ‘gold standard’ reference for climate measurements. Carrying a cryogenic solar absolute radiometer and a hyperspectral imaging spectrometer as well as a novel onboard calibration system, TRUTHS is designed to make continuous measurements of incoming solar radiation and reflected radiation to evaluate Earth’s energy-in to energy-out ratio.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Previous Flights

flew on three previous launch(es).

Vega-C | Sentinel-1C

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Dec. 5, 2024, 9:20 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Sentinel-1C carries an advanced radar technology to provide an all-weather, day-and-night supply of imagery of Earth’s surface. It is a replacement satellite to complete the Sentinel-1 duo after Sentinel-1B suffered a technical anomaly.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | Pléiades Neo 5 & 6

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Dec. 21, 2022, 1:47 a.m.
Status: Launch Failure
Mission:

Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 are the last two in a constellation of four optical high-resolution Earth observation satellites built and operated by Airbus. It is a dual purpose constellation, serving both civilian and military purposes.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega-C | LARES-2 (Maiden flight)

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
July 13, 2022, 1:13 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Maiden flight of the Vega-C launch vehicle, carrying the LARES-2 passive satellite. It is a 40 cm diameter sphere with laser mirrors to study the Earth gravitational field and relativistic effects. Also onboard are six European research cubesats.

Medium Earth Orbit
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