Manufacturer Avio Height 30 m (98 ft) | Country of origin Italy, Europe Diameter 3 m (9.8 ft) | |
Function Small orbital launch vehicle Mass 137,000 kg (302,000 lb) | ||
Vega (Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata, Advanced Generation European Carrier Rocket) is an expendable launch system in use by Arianespace jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency. Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on 13 February 2012. Arianespace has ordered launchers covering the period till at least the end of 2018.
Contents
- Payload capacity
- Payload Fairing
- Three solid motor stages
- Zefiro 9
- Zefiro 23
- P80
- AVUM
- Lead up to first launch
- Vega launches
- Planned future launches
- Costs
- Future developments
- References
It is designed to launch small payloads — 300 to 2,500 kg satellites for scientific and Earth observation missions to polar and low Earth orbits. The reference Vega mission is a polar orbit bringing a spacecraft of 1,500 kilograms to an altitude of 700 kilometers.
Vega, named after the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, 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 technology developed for the P80 program will also be used for future Ariane developments. Italy is the leading contributor to the Vega program (65%), followed by France (13%). Other participants include Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden.
Payload capacity
Arianespace indicates a Vega launcher is able to carry 1,500 kilograms (3,300 lb) to a circular polar orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometres (430 mi).
Arianespace is marketing Vega as a launch system tailored for missions to polar and sun-synchronous orbits. In its qualification flight VEGA put its main payload of 386.8 kg, the LARES satellite, into a circular orbit at the altitude of 1450 km with an inclination of 69.5 degrees.
Payload Fairing
Vega's payload fairing is designed and manufactured by RUAG Space of Switzerland. It has a diameter of 2.6 meters, a height of 7.8 meters and a mass of 400 kg.
Three solid motor stages
The first three stages are solid propellant engines produced by Avio, that is Prime Contractor for the Vega launcher through its company ELV.
Each of the three engine types intended for the three stages of the Vega had to be commissioned with two test-firings – one for design evaluation and one in the final flight configuration.
Zefiro 9
The first engine completed was Zefiro 9, the third stage engine. The first test firing was carried out on 20 December 2005, at the Salto di Quirra Inter-force Test Range, on the Mediterranean coast in southeast Sardinia. The test was a complete success.
After a critical design review based on the completed first test firings, the second test-firing of the Zefiro 9 took place at Salto di Quirra on 28 March 2007. After 35 seconds, there was a sudden drop in the motor's internal pressure, leading to an increased combustion time. No public information is available for this sudden drop of internal pressure, and whether any flaws were present in the motor's design.
On 23 October 2008 an enhanced version of the Zefiro 9 with a modified nozzle design, the Zefiro 9-A, was successfully tested.
On 28 April 2009, the final qualification test firing of Zefiro 9-A took place at the Salto di Quirra Interforce Test Range in Sardinia, Italy.
Zefiro 23
The development of the Zefiro motor was initiated by Avio, partially funded by the company and partially funded by a contract from the Italian Space Agency. A Zefiro 23 forms the second stage of Vega. Its carbon-epoxy case is filament-wound and its carbon phenolic nozzle includes a carbon-carbon throat insert. The propellant loading is 23 tons.
The Zefiro 23 second stage engine was first fired on 26 June 2006 at Salto di Quirra. This test was successful.
The second test firing of the Zefiro 23 second stage engine took place on 27 March 2008 also at Salto di Quirra. This successful test qualified the rocket engine.
P80
The P80 is the first stage of VEGA, its name is derived from the design phase propellant weight of 80 tons that was later increased to 88 tons. The P80 includes a thrust vector control (TVC) system (developed and made in Belgium by SABCA) consisting of two electromechanical actuators that operate a movable nozzle with flexible joint using lithium ion batteries. The 3 m diameter case is composed of graphite epoxy filament wound case and low density rubber is used for the internal insulation. The nozzle is made of light low-cost carbon phenolic material; a consumable casing is used for the igniter. The solid propellant loaded has low binder content and high aluminium percentage (HTPB 1912).
The first test firing of the P80 engine took place on 30 November 2006 in Kourou, and the test was concluded successfully.
The second test firing of the P80 first stage engine took place on 4 December 2007 in Kourou. Delivering a mean thrust of 190 tonnes over 111 seconds, the engine's behaviour was in line with predictions.
Future versions of the stage would increase the propellant mass to 100 tons (P100) and 120 tons (P120).
AVUM
The AVUM (Attitude Vernier Upper Module) upper stage, developed by Avio, has been designed to place the payload in the required orbit and to perform roll and attitude control functions. The AVUM consists of two modules: APM (AVUM Propulsion Module) and AAM (AVUM Avionics Module). The propulsion module uses a RD-843 rocket engine liquid-fuel rocket burning pressure-fed UDMH and nitrogen tetroxide as propellants. The AVUM avionics module contains the main components of the avionics sub-system of the vehicle.
Lead-up to first launch
Enrico Saggese, at that time head of the Italian Space Agency, suggested in October 2008 that the first flight of VEGA might be delayed, stating "We have to decide if we want to wait until we have another programme", and referring to plans to have German participation to develop new third and fourth stages.
In 2009 the first launch of the system was anticipated to take place in November 2010; later press suggested that the launch would slip to early 2012, until ESA publicized the launch for "end of January 2012".
Vega launches
The maiden flight occurred on 13 February 2012.
Planned future launches
Having successfully completed the maiden qualification flight, and waiting the outcome of the second flight, ESA has plans for four more flights in its VERTA (Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment) programme. The VERTA flights will carry several ESA missions such as Proba-V, ADM-Aeolus, LISA Pathfinder and the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV). The launch of LISA Pathfinder was in December, 2015, using a Vega booster.
In a meeting held on 14 December 2011 in Evry, France, representatives from Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed a contract that binds the company to launch the Sentinel-2B and Sentinel-3B satellites aboard a Vega rocket. Later, the launch of Sentinel-2A, replaced the initially planned Sentinel-2B.
Arianespace announced on 20 June 2012 that Kazakhstan’s KazEOSat 1 optical Earth observation satellite will be the first commercial satellite launched aboard Vega.
The Italian Aerospace Research Centre plans to launch its "FTB-X" test vehicle on a Vega launcher in the future although there are no updates in the project since 2012.
In November 2013, Arianespace ordered from ELV 10 Vega launchers, with the first to be ready for launch starting at the end of 2015. These are intended to cover more than three years of operations.
Costs
Developments costs for the Vega rocket were €710 million, with ESA spending an additional €400 million to sponsor five development flights between 2012 and 2014. Commercial launch cost have been estimated at €32 million including Arianespace's marketing and service costs or €25 million for a rocket alone, assuming launch rate of 2 per year. By increasing flight rate up to 4 per year price of an each individual launch vehicle will drop to €22 million.
Our belief is that we can charge up to 20 percent more per launch than our biggest competitors and still win business because of the value we provide at the space center here and with Arianespace.
Future developments
There was a concept study for a new medium-size launcher based on Vega and Ariane 5 elements. This launcher would use an Ariane 5 P230 first stage, a Vega P80 second stage and an Ariane 5 third stage using either storable or cryogenic fuel. The addition of Soyuz to the Arianespace launch vehicle lineup removed momentum from this initiative.
The future upgraded Vega (LYRA program) has exceeded the feasibility study and is planned to replace the current third and fourth stages with a single low cost LOX/LNG stage with a new guidance system. The purpose of the program is to upgrade the performance by about 30% without significant price increase.
On 14 February 2012, one day after the successful first launch of Vega, the German space agency moved to be included in the program. Johann-Dietrich Woerner, at that time head of the German Aerospace Agency DLR, said Germany wanted to join the project. Germany would provide a replacement for the RD-843 engine on the AVUM fourth stage, currently made in Ukraine. The Vega Launcher Manager stated that it will not fly in the near future because it takes some time to develop, but he confirmed it will be on agenda in the next meeting of ministers in late 2012. That way, all components of the rocket would be built inside the EU, excluding the Swiss made ones.
The Vega first stage is under consideration as booster for the first stage of the next generation Ariane 6 rocket.