Two weeks ago, Europe demonstrated the ability to launch its own light rockets into space, freeing itself from dependence on foreign operators SpaceX and Roscosmos. Next we need to build on our success by creating an improved modification of the light rocket and setting up workshops for its production. This work was entrusted to the Italian company Avio. The Italians also became operators of the Vega C launch vehicle and expanded their participation in European space programs.
Image source: ESA
Previously, the contract for launching the Vega C rocket was transferred to the Italian company Avio. Avio’s new €350 million ($364 million) contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) will fund the development of an upgraded Vega E rocket and expand assembly facilities at Kourou in French Guiana, where ESA launches its rockets.
The Vega E rocket will increase payload capacity over Vega C by about 20% (from 2.3 to 3 tons to low Earth orbit) for the same launch price. In the new version, the light European rocket will retain the Zefiro-40 second stage engine, but will receive a more powerful P160 first stage engine (instead of the P120 of the Vega C). Also, instead of two upper stages with their own engines, the Vega E rocket will receive one M10 stage with a liquid rocket engine using an oxygen/methane mixture. The first flight of the upgraded rocket will take place in 2027 or 2028.
As for the hangars at the Kourou spaceport, today Vega C rockets are assembled on the launch pad, which is impractical for many reasons. The Avio company will adapt a hangar for the assembly of heavy missiles for this purpose. After upgrading the premises, it will be possible to assemble two light rockets at the same time, and if in 2025 four Vega C will be assembled in the old hangar, then in the new workspace in 2026 six of them will be assembled.
In addition, Avio has agreed to build a satellite for ESA to study and monitor radiation from the Earth in the far infrared range (FORUM). The spacecraft, scheduled to launch on Vega C in 2027, will measure Earth’s far-infrared radiation to study the effects of water vapor and ice clouds on climate.
As for the transfer of Vega C rocket production and launch operations to Avio, this process will be completed before the end of 2025. Today, Vega C rockets are developed by Arianespace.