Vega

Active Vega

Avio S.p.A (Avio)

Feb. 13, 2012

Description

Vega is the smallest lifter in the current Arianespace family.

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

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 | Sentinel-2C

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD September, 2024
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Sentinel-2C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-2 constellation, which is designed to provide high-resolution optical imagery for land services.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | THEOS-2, TRITON & others

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Oct. 9, 2023, 1:36 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

THEOS-2 is Thailand’s first Earth observation satellite. Built by Airbus Defense and Space and based on the Astrobus-S platform, it is designed for optical measurements with a ground resolution of approximately 1 meter. TRITON or FORMOSAT-7R is an additional satellite by NSPO added to the joint Taiwanese-US FORMOSAT 7 / COSMIC-2 constellation for collecting atmospheric data for weather prediction and for ionosphere, climate and gravity research. Its GNSS Reflectometry payload can be used to calculate the wind speed over sea surfaces. Cubesats: PROBA-V-CC (Project for On-Board Autonomy - Vegetation - Companion CubeSat) (12U) is a mission that will fly a scaled-down version of the vegetation-monitoring instrument aboard the Earth-observing PROBA-V to conduct combined experimental observations with its predecessor. PRETTY (Passive REflecTomeTry and dosimetrY) (3U) flies a GPS/Galileo signal reflectometer and radiation monitor for Graz University of Technology of Austria. MACSAT (6U) is an In-orbit demonstration (IoD) missionto demonstrate IoT communication over 5G for OQTech. CSC-1 and 2 (6U) contains 7 different experimental payloads from various institutions being flown by ISISPACE/ISL. N3SS (Nanosat 3U pour la Surveillance du Spectre) (3U) is a demonstration system for detecting and localize radio-frequency jammers on civil spectrum for the French CNES. ESTCUBE-2 is a technology demonstration mission with multiple scientific payloads for University of Tartu of Estonia. ANSER LEADER/FOLLOWER 1/2 (Advanced Nanosatellite Systems for Earth observation Research) is a cluster of 3 Earth observing cubesats with panchromatic and hyperspectral cameras for Spain's INTA for monitoring the quality of inland (reservoirs) water over the Iberian Peninsula.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | CERES

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Nov. 16, 2021, 9:27 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

CERES (CapacitÉ de Renseignement Électromagnétique Spatiale) is a space-based signal intelligence (SIGNIT) system consisting of three satellites constellation.

Low Earth Orbit
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Vega | Pléiades Neo 4

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Aug. 17, 2021, 1:47 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Pléiades Neo is 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. Pléiades Neo 4 is the second satellite in the constellation which is to deliver imagery with spatial resolution of 30 cm. It is launched along with several rideshare payloads.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | Pléiades Neo 3

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
April 29, 2021, 1:50 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Pléiades Neo is 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. Pléiades Neo 3 is the first satellite in the constellation which is to deliver imagery with spatial resolution of 30 cm. It is launched along with several rideshare payloads.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | SEOSAT-Ingenio & Taranis

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Nov. 17, 2020, 1:52 a.m.
Status: Launch Failure
Mission:

SEOSAT-Ingenio is a high-resolution optical imaging mission of Spain - the flagship mission of the Spanish space strategic plan. Its mission is devoted to ensure an even coverage of the areas of national interest, providing a large operational capability in the capture of high-resolution multi-spectral land optical images for numerous user groups, as well as supporting and optimizing the development in Spain of teledetection-based applications in Spain. The overall mission objective is to provide information for applications in cartography, land use, urban management, water management, environmental monitoring, risk management and security. TARANIS (Tool for the Analysis of RAdiation from lightNIngand Sprites), the Celtic god of thunder and lightning, is the first satellite designed to observe luminous, radiative and electromagnetic phenomena occurring at altitudes of 20 to 100 km over thunderstorms. Discovered 20 years ago, such transient luminous events (TLEs) such as red sprites, blue jets, elves, sprite halos, etc. remain shrouded in mystery. They are sometimes accompanied by terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs). The TARANIS microsatellite will fly over thousands of TLEs and TGFs for at least four years and will be capable of detecting these events and recording their luminous and radiative signatures at high resolution, as well as the electromagnetic perturbations they set off in Earth’s upper atmosphere. The payload includes numerous sensors to observe the TLEs and to perform in-situ measurements of perturbations caused on the local plasma (fields, waves and particles).

Sun-Synchronous Orbit #SEOSATIngenio
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Vega | SSMS PoC

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Sept. 3, 2020, 1:51 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

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.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit #VV16
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Vega | Falcon Eye 1

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
July 11, 2019, 1:53 a.m.
Status: Launch Failure
Mission:

Falcon Eye 1 is a high-resolution Earth-imaging satellite for the United Arab Emirates. Built by Airbus Defense and Space with an optical imaging payload from Thales Alenia Space, Falcon Eye 1 is the first of two surveillance satellites ordered by the UAE’s military.

Polar Orbit #VV15
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Vega | PRISMA

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
March 22, 2019, 1:50 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

PRISMA (PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa) is a medium-resolution hyperspectral imaging mission of the Italian Space Agency ASI. The mission can provide a unique contribution to the observations of natural resources and in the study of key environmental processes

Sun-Synchronous Orbit #VV14
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Vega | Mohammed VI-B

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Nov. 21, 2018, 1:42 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

A second Earth observation satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco. It was developed by Thales Alenia Space and Airbus. Satellite will be in particular used for mapping and land surveying activities, regional development, agricultural monitoring, the prevention and management of natural disasters, monitoring changes in the environment and desertification, as well as border and coastal surveillance.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | ADM-Aeolus

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Aug. 22, 2018, 9:20 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

ADM-Aeolus was an Earth observation satellite built by Airbus Defense and Space for ESA. Its goal was to directly observe wind profiles from space on a global scale and provide data that could improve weather forecasting and advance understanding of atmospherics dynamics and climate. The Aeolus satellite weighed around 1366 kg and flew in a low sun-synchronous orbit at about 400 km altitude. It was desorbited and reentered the Earth's atmosphere on July 28, 2023 at approximately 19:00 UTC.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit #Aeolus
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Vega | Mohammed VI-A

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Nov. 8, 2017, 1:42 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

An Earth observation satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco. It was developed by Thales Alenia Space and Airbus. Satellite will be in particular used for mapping and land surveying activities, regional development, agricultural monitoring, the prevention and management of natural disasters, monitoring changes in the environment and desertification, as well as border and coastal surveillance.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | OptSat 3000 & VENµS (VENUS)

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Aug. 2, 2017, 1:58 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

OptSat 3000 is an Earth imaging satellite built by Israel Aerospace Industries for the Italian military. It will be placed in a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 600km. It will have a mission life of more than six years. Launched along with it is VENµS, Vegetation and Environment monitoring on a New Micro-Satellite. This is a near polar sun-synchronous orbit microsatellite jointly built by the Israeli Space Agency and CNES. Besides the scientific mission of terrestrial environment monitoring, the satellite is also tasked with verification and validation of the Hall Effect thruster in space.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | Sentinel-2B

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
March 7, 2017, 1:49 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Sentinel-2 is the second mission for Europe’s Copernicus environment monitoring programme. It's a satellite constellation of two identical spacecrafts, Sentinel-2A and -2B. Both carry an innovative wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands for a new perspective of our land and vegetation.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | Göktürk-1A

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Dec. 5, 2016, 1:51 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Göktürk-1A is a high resolution earth observation satellite (greater than 50 cm) designed and developed for the Turkish Ministry of National Defence by the Italian space service company Telespazio. The Göktürk-1A satellite has a dry weight of about 1,000 kg and a design life of seven years. Its observation payload includes a high resolution optical instrument and an onboard X-band digital imaging system to handle data compression, storage and downloading.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | PerúSAT-1 / SkySat 4-7

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Sept. 16, 2016, 1:43 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Launch VV07 from Arianespace launched 5 earth imaging satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit. PerúSAT-1 weighs 450kg and is able to capture images with a resolution of 70cm. The smaller Skybox satellites, each weighing 120kg, is able to achieve a resolution of approximately 1 meter.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | LISA Pathfinder

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Dec. 3, 2015, 4:04 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

LISA Pathfinder will pave the way for future missions by testing in flight the very concept of gravitational wave detection: it will put two test masses in a near-perfect gravitational free-fall and control and measure their motion with unprecedented accuracy. LISA Pathfinder will use the latest technology to minimise the extra forces on the test masses, and to take measurements. The inertial sensors, the laser metrology system, the drag-free control system and an ultra-precise micro-propulsion system make this a highly unusual mission.

Heliocentric L1
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Vega | Sentinel-2A

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
June 23, 2015, 1:51 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Unknown Mission

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


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Vega | IXV

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Feb. 11, 2015, 1:40 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Unknown Mission

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


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Vega | KazEOSat 1

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
April 30, 2014, 1:35 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

DZZ-HR will provide high-resolution images to Kazakh authorities for homeland surveillance, resource management and environmental monitoring.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | Proba-V, VNREDSat 1A, ESTCube-1

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
May 7, 2013, 2:06 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Proba-V maps land cover and monitors vegetation growth across the globe. Launched along with Proba-V are the first Earth observation satellite for Vietnam, VNREDSat 1A, and the first Estonian satellite ESTCube-1. ESTCube-1 is also the first satellite in the world to attempt the use of an electric solar wind sail.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Vega | Multipayload mission, 9 satellites

Avio S.p.A | ITA
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Feb. 13, 2012, 10 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Unknown Mission

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


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Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 2 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-44
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Starship
Success
4 days, 13 hours ago
Integrated Flight Test 3
Orbital Launch Mount A - SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

Third test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle.


Long March 2C/YZ-1S
Partial Failure
5 days, 14 hours ago
DRO-A/B
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Two spacecraft by the Chinese Academy of Sciences designed to perform communication and navigation testing from a Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) arou…


KAIROS
Failure
6 days ago
Maiden Flight
Space One Launch Pad - Space Port Kii, Japan

Carried a prototype "quick response" satellite for the Japanese government Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, operator of the IGS series of Japan…


Electron
Success
6 days, 11 hours ago
Owl Night Long
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Onenui Station, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

StriX-3 is a synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective. It can gather high resolution Earth observation data …