Vega’s maiden blast-off a success

This new European rocket is specialised in light-weight launches. On 13 February 2012, it successfully lifted off at 11:00 French time. Its first mission is a success: several small satellites were put on orbit.

Vega blasting off.
Credit: ESA/Stéphane Corvaja

It was 07:00 local time at the CSG, Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, when Vega successfully soared up into the sky. This light-weight launch vehicle designed for missions aiming to place small satellites (about 1.5 tonnes or less) in orbit is a major first for Europe.
The first three stages, based on solid propellants (powder to make things simpler), operated perfectly. The first stage, the P80, is derived from Ariane 5’s solid rocket boosters. The second and third stages, Zefiro 23 and 9, were manufactured in Italy. The fourth stage, dubbed AVUM (for Altitude and Vernier Upper Module) uses a liquid-propellant engine supplied by the Ukraine and is capable of firing several times in order to successively release satellites in their respective orbits and then to cause a drag so that it is burnt up in the atmosphere and does not clutter up the Earth’s suburbs.
Below, the video of the launch.

The Italian LARES satellite (in orbit testing of Einstein’s theory of relativity) and the other small satellites were all successfully released.
Following this success, Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency, said: "There is not anymore one single European satellite which cannot be launched by a European launcher service". Ariane 5 and Vega are European launch vehicles that are marketed by Arianespace. And, although Soyuz in Guiana is a Russian rocket, it is also marketed by Arianespace.

Published on 13 February 2012

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