Updates Vega updates

[orb]

ESA:
Vega set for its inaugural flight

3 February 2012

PR 2 2012 - On 13 February, the European Space Agency will perform the first qualification flight of its brand new Vega launch vehicle.

The very first Vega will lift off from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, to release nine satellites into orbit and add a new capability to Europe’s fleet of launch systems.

The first mission, designated VV01, is scheduled for liftoff during a two-hour launch window during 10:00–12:00 GMT (11:00–13:00 CET; 07:00–09:00 local time)

This first flight marks the culmination of nine years of development by ESA and its partners, the Italian space agency (ASI) and ELV SpA, the prime contractor for developing the vehicle.

Click on image to enlarge​

ESA’s new Vega rocket is now fully assembled on its launch pad. Final preparations are in full swing for the rocket’s inaugural flight.

Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2012​

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The payload consists of two Italian satellites – ASI’s LARES laser relativity satellite and the University of Bologna’s ALMASat-1 – as well as seven nanosatellites provided by European universities: e-St@r (Italy), Goliat (Romania), MaSat-1 (Hungary), PW-Sat (Poland), Robusta (France), UniCubeSat GG (Italy) and Xatcobeo (Spain).

The mission is intended to qualify the overall Vega system, including the vehicle itself, its launch infrastructure and the operations, from the launch campaign to the payload separation and safe disposal of the upper stage.

Following this qualification flight, the Vega launch system will be handed over to Arianespace to operate. The company will also be in charge of offering this new launch capacity on the international market, with the goal of at least two missions per year. ESA will be an early customer of Arianespace’s new service through a commitment for five launches.

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[orb]

Aviation Week: Vega Launcher Targets Government Market

 

[fausto]

GO VEGA GO

 

[Notebook]

Watch online: Vega qualification flight

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM5Y9WX7YG_index_0.html

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[Notebook]

BBC article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16986043

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[Notebook]

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMP6HYXHYG_index_0.html

Final ‘go’ for Vega launch


12 February 2012
Vega is all set for launch on Monday. The new launcher passed its final hurdle on Saturday at Europe’s Spaceport, the Launch Readiness Review, and is ready for liftoff.

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[mahdavi3d]

a video shows first mission payloads ...

 

[orb]

ESA:
ESA’s new Vega launcher scores success on maiden flight

13 February 2012

PR 3 2012 - Vega, ESA’s new launch vehicle, is ready to operate alongside the Ariane 5 and Soyuz launchers after a successful qualification flight this morning from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

With Vega extending the family of launchers available at the spaceport, Europe now covers the full range of launch needs, from small science and Earth observation satellites to the largest missions like ESA’s supply freighters to the International Space Station.

Click on image to enlarge​

The new Vega launcher is ready for liftoff on Monday 13 February 2012.

Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2012​

The first Vega lifted off at 10:00 GMT (11:00 CET, 07:00 local time) from the new launch pad, and conducted a flawless qualification flight.

Vega’s light launch capacity accommodates a wide range of satellites – from 300 kg to 2500 kg – into a wide variety of orbits, from equatorial to Sun-synchronous. Its reference mission is 1500 kg into a 700 km-high circular Sun-synchronous orbit.

Click on image to enlarge​

On 13 February 2012, the first Vega lifted off on its maiden flight from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2012​

Vega will thus add to Europe’s set of launch services next to the Ariane 5 heavy-lifter and the Soyuz medium-class launcher already in service.

The combination of these three systems operating from French Guiana will also improve the efficiency of Europe’s launch infrastructure by sharing its operating costs over a larger number of launches.

“In a little more than three months, Europe has increased the number of launchers it operates from one to three, widening significantly the range of launch services offered by the European operator Arianespace. There is not anymore one single European satellite which cannot be launched by a European launcher service,” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA.

“It is a great day for ESA, its Member States, in particularly Italy where Vega was born, for European industry and for Arianespace.”

Vega launcher development started in 2003. Seven Member States contributed to the programme: Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

“Today is a moment of pride for Europe as well as those around 1000 individuals who have been involved in developing the world’s most modern and competitive launcher system for small satellites,” said Antonio Fabrizi, ESA’s Director of Launchers.

“ESA, with the technical support of the Italian and French space agencies, and about 40 industrial companies coordinated by the prime contractor ELV SpA, have made this enormous challenge a reality in under a decade of development.”

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Aviation Week: European Vega Scores Flawless Debut



To learn more about this particular Vega VV01 launch and its payloads, see: "[Launch News] LARES, ALMASat-1 & 7 CubeSats atop Vega VV01, Feb. 13, 2012" thread.

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now: Vega launcher program courts German participation:

Buoyed by the successful first flight of Europe's Vega launcher, the head of the German space agency Monday moved to open negotiations to build a new upper stage to replace Vega's Ukrainian upper stage orbit-adjust engine.

If a deal is made, a new upper stage would bring production of all Vega stages into European Space Agency member states.

Germany is not one of the seven ESA member states contributing money to the Italian-led Vega program, which was developed to offer a European-made launcher for small research satellites.

Vega can launch up to 1,500 kilograms, or 3,306 pounds, into a sun-synchronous orbit 435 miles high.

Enrico Saggese, president of the Italian space agency, said he received a call Monday from Johann-Dietrich Woerner, executive chairman of the German Aerospace Center, or DLR. Saggese said Woerner suggested Germany was ready to join the Vega program.

"I must say that we are proud of the seven countries who participated in the program," Saggese said. "We are ready to have with us other fathers."

Woerner congratulated Saggese on the successful launch and offered to discuss German support for a European upper stage for Vega, according to Andreas Shutz, a DLR spokesperson.

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[MattBaker]

Hop on the train when everything is done already by someone else? :thumbsdown:
And the upper stage seems to be fine, why build a new one that has never flown? Vega seems to work fine, so don't bring in new risk factors.

 

[Urwumpe]

Hop on the train when everything is done already by someone else? :thumbsdown:
And the upper stage seems to be fine, why build a new one that has never flown? Vega seems to work fine, so don't bring in new risk factors.

It is no new plan to give Vega a German or French upper stage because of their expertise with liquid propellant engines. It simply never happened because of the way how ESA is permitted to spend the money.

In simple words: ESA has to spend their money like the member nations pay. That means that the small nations also need to get a chance to lead a bigger project, and not just have Germany, France and UK lead everything. A Ukrainian upper stage was the prize for not one country swapping places with Germany on a project that the other country can not do as well (yet).

Now that the first phase of Vega is done, Germany can really jump on the train for the follow up work, but that is politics again.

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: Officials Eye New Upper Stage for Vega Rocket

 

[N_Molson]

Ukraine has the experience of building the proven RD-series ex-Soviet rocket engines, and can do it for cheap, I guess it was also a consideration.

My question would be : by how much a high-tech LOX/LH2 upper stage (like the Ariane's one) would boost the payload capacity of Vega ? And it is economically viable (what makes a light launcher attractive are low manufacturing & operation costs) ? :hmm:

 

[MaverickSawyer]

What thrust range are we talking about for this upper stage? If it's in the 30,000 lbf range, Just wait for the Aerojet NGE to arrive.

 

[MattBaker]

It's the AVUM of Vega, so basically nothing for orbit insertion, more for fine-adjusting of your orbit.
So we're talking about 2,45 kN or 550 lbf.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Ok, that's not a very common cryogenic engine size. Going to have to be custom made for the AVUM stage.

 

[orb]

ESA: Building Vega meant testing materials to their limits

 

[orb]

Space News: 2014 Vega Launch Booked for Kazakh Satellite:

PARIS — Kazakhstan’s DZZ-HR optical Earth observation satellite will be launched aboard Europe’s new Vega small-satellite vehicle in mid-2014 under a contract announced June 20 by the Arianespace launch consortium of Evry, France.

The 900-kilogram DZZ-HR is under construction by Astrium of France as part of a broad space-cooperation agreement signed by the French and Kazakh heads of state in 2010. It will be able to detect objects as small as 1 meter in diameter from a sun-synchronous orbit 750 kilometers in altitude.

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[orb]

ESA: First stage of Vega VV02 arrives at Europe's Spaceport

 

[Notebook]

This is the youngest generic Vega thread, so some general news about the rocket.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2016/06/Getting_Vega_s_launch_tower_moving

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