Europe’s Vega launch vehicle operating from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, has a flawless record.
Vega serves a wide range of missions and payload configurations, responding to different market opportunities. It is the ideal launcher for most scientific and Earth observation missions, benchmarked to loft 1500 kg into a 700 km-altitude circular orbit at 90° inclination.
Based on this success a more powerful Vega, Vega-C, now in development is set to launch in mid-2019 offering greater performance at no additional cost.
Vega-C shares technology with Europe’s other new launcher Ariane 6. The P120C solid fuel motor will be used as the first stage for Vega-C and two or four will be used as strap-on boosters for Ariane 6.