ESA Vega rocket ready for first flight

Vega's maiden flight, VV01, is planned for the beginning of 2012 from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

ESA’s new, small launcher will carry nine satellites into orbit on its very first flight: Italian space agency’s LARES and ALMASat-1 with seven CubeSats from European universities.

Credits: ESA - J. Huart, 2012

All four stages have undergone final acceptance, including the testing of the avionics, guidance, telemetry, propulsion, separation pyrotechnics and safety systems.

These steps culminated on 13 January with Vega’s ‘synthesis control checks’, where all systems were put into launch mode for the vehicle’s final acceptance. This included pressurising the AVUM propulsion systems that actuate the thruster valves.


The rocket’s elements were switched on from the control bench to simulate the launch countdown. The onboard software then took over and simulated the different stages of a flight. The interfaces between the vehicle and the control bench were also tested.

The test review confirmed that everything ran as expected and that the launcher is ready for flight.