Vega
EUROPE’S SMALL LAUNCHER
With its successful qualification flight in February 2012, Vega operates from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
ESA’s new, small Vega is a single body launcher with three solid propulsion stages and an additional liquid propulsion upper module used for attitude and orbit control, and satellite release.
Vega is specially designed to provide Europe with the capacity to economically place satellites weighing 300 to 2000 kg satellites into the polar and low-Earth orbits used for many scientific and Earth observation missions.
Vega complements the family of launchers already available from Europe’s Spaceport: Ariane 5 and the Russian Soyuz launcher.