P120 – Spaceflight Now

All-Italian launch from French Guiana lofts innovative environmental satellite

March 22, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Vega rocket fired into orbit Thursday night from French Guiana with Italy’s PRISMA hyperspectral Earth-imaging satellite, commencing a busy period for the Vega launcher program as engineers prepare for the debut of the more powerful Vega-C booster in early 2020 and study a lighter variant to better compete in the growing smallsat launch market.

Q&A with Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio (members only)

March 21, 2019 Stephen Clark

Giulio Ranzo is the chief executive of Avio, the Italian company responsible for building the Vega rocket. Ranzo recently spoke with Spaceflight Now about the Vega rocket’s increasing launch rate, the debut of the new Vega C booster in 2020, and future plans to evolve the Vega design to compete with commercial microsatellite launchers.

Powerful new European solid-fueled rocket motor aces first test-firing

July 16, 2018 Stephen Clark

European engineers test-fired the world’s most powerful present-day single-segment solid rocket booster Monday in French Guiana, clearing a major development hurdle for the Vega-C and Ariane 6 launchers set for debuts in 2019 and 2020.

Arianespace procures first batch of upgraded Vega-C rockets, preps for last Ariane 5 order

September 28, 2017 Stephen Clark

Arianespace has split its third order of Vega rockets from Italy’s Avio between old and new versions of the solid-fueled booster, as officials prepare to build a final batch of around 18 Ariane 5 rockets before switching to the next-generation Ariane 6 in the early 2020s.