Vega was an expendable launch system in use by Arianespace which was jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on 13 February 2012.[1]
It is designed to launch small payloads — 300to satellites for scientific and Earth observation missions to polar and low Earth orbits.[2] The reference Vega mission is a polar orbit bringing a spacecraft of to an altitude of .
The rocket, named after the star Vega,[3] is a single-body launcher (no strap-on boosters) with three solid rocket stages: the P80 first stage, the Zefiro 23 second stage, and the Zefiro 9 third stage. The upper module is a liquid rocket called AVUM. The improved version of the P80 stage, the P120C, is also used as the side boosters of the Ariane 6. Italy is the leading contributor to the Vega program (65%), followed by France (13%).[4] Other participants include Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden.[5]