ESA VEGA: Central and eastern Europe make history with small satellites

University of Bucharest’s Goliat being integrated into the first P-POD.

Credits: ESA / A. Reyes

The first satellites entirely designed and built by Hungary, Poland, Romania are now orbiting Earth after today’s successful maiden flight of ESA's small Vega launcher.

The latest addition to Europe’s versatile family of space launchers, Vega carried nine satellites, seven of them built by European universities.

This group of ESA-sponsored educational CubeSats included Goliat from Romania, PW-Sat from Poland and Masat-1 from Hungary.

The unique opportunity to launch the first satellites from these countries was made possible by a fruitful collaboration between the ESA launcher and education programmes.

“Since Vega’s first mission was a qualification flight, ESA decided to offer the chance to European Universities of a free ride into space for small scientific or educational payloads,” noted Antonio Fabrizi, ESA’s Director of Launchers.  
 

Romanian Helen Rocket space launch postponed

Inclement weather postponed Friday's launch of the Helen Rocket -- Romania's first attempt to reach space, authorities said.

Officials from the Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association were to try again Saturday to launch Helen over the Black Sea with the aid of Romanian Military Marine officials and a balloon, Romanian Hot News reported.

The world's largest solar balloon is to lift Helen to an altitude of about 8 miles before the rocket's engines fire and propel it into suborbital space.

The project's final phase calls for the retrieval from the Black Sea of video and radio equipment to be sent up with Helen.

The use of a solar balloon and oxygenated water, an ecologically sustainable fuel, to launch a rocket is a first, researchers said.