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Vega-C

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Avio S.p.A (Avio)

July 13, 2022

Description

Vega-C is a single-body rocket nearly 35 m high with that weighs 210 tonnes on the launch pad. As with Vega, its main elements are three solid-propellant stages, an upper stage powered by a reignitable liquid-propellant engine and a payload fairing. Vega-C's P120C first stage replaces Vega’s smaller P80 to provide a significant increase in thrust at liftoff. It is also used as boosters (2 or 4) for the Ariane 6 rocket.

Specifications

Stages
4
Length
35.0 m
Diameter
3.0 m
Fairing Diameter
3.3 m
Launch Mass
210.0 T
Thrust
2974.0 kN

Family

Name
Vega-C
Family
―
Variant
―
Alias
―
Full Name
Vega-C

Payload Capacity

Launch Cost
$48000000
Low Earth Orbit
3300.0 kg
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
―
Direct Geostationary
―
Sun-Synchronous Capacity
2300.0 kg

Avio S.p.A

Commercial

CEO: Giulio Ranzo

Avio 1908

Avio S.p.A. is an Italian company operating in the aerospace sector with its head office in Colleferro near Rome, Italy. Founded in 1908, it is present in Italy and abroad with different commercial offices and 10 production sites.

Upcoming Spaceflights

Vega-C | CO3D & MicroCarb

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
July 26, 2025, 2:03 a.m.

Status: Go for Launch

Mission:

CO3D is a CNES-Airbus Defence & Space constellation of four small satellites designed to map the globe in 3D from low Earth to serve public and private sector needs. Microcarb is a small satellite designed to map sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2)—the most important greenhouse gas — on a global scale.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

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Vega-C | Korean Multi-purpose Satellite 6 (KOMPSAT-6)

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025

Status: To Be Determined

Mission:

Sixth South Korean Earth observation satellite of the KOMPSAT series. It is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar with a ground resolution between 0.5 and 20 meters.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

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Vega-C | CSG-3

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025

Status: To Be Determined

Mission:

CSG-3 is an Earth observation satellite for the Italian Space Agency, part of a reconnaissance constellation using synthetic aperture radars operating in the X-band.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

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Vega-C | PLATiNO 2

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025

Status: To Be Determined

Unknown Mission

There are no mission or payload details available for this launch.

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Vega-C | PLATiNO 1

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025

Status: To Be Determined

Unknown Mission

There are no mission or payload details available for this launch.

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Vega-C | IRIDE 1

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025

Status: To Be Determined

Mission:

First dedicated launch for the European Space Agency's IRIDE Earth observation constellation.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

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Vega-C | IRIDE 2

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2025

Status: To Be Determined

Mission:

Second dedicated launch for the European Space Agency's IRIDE Earth observation constellation.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

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Vega-C | KOMPSAT-7

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD January, 2026

Status: To Be Determined

Mission:

KOMPSAT-7 is the follow-up model of KOMPSAT-3A whose mission is to provide high-resolution satellite images to satisfy South-Koreaâ€™s governmental and institutional needs.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

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Vega-C | Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE)

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD March, 2026

Status: To Be Determined

Mission:

Joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to investigate the interaction between Earth’s protective shield – the magnetosphere – and the supersonic solar wind.

Elliptical Orbit

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Previous Flights

flew on two previous launch(es).

Vega-C | Biomass

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
April 29, 2025, 9:15 a.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Biomass is an European Space Agency mission designed to measure the density of carbon stored in the world's forests. The spacecraft, built by Airbus Defence and Space, features the first civilian P-band synthetic aperture radar as well as a 12m-diameter deployable reflector from L3Harris made of over 900 km of gold-coated molybdenum 25µm wire. With a minimum operational lifetime of 5 years in its 666km 6am/6pm sun-synchronous orbit, the global coverage achieved every 9 months allows to precisely monitor the evolution of forests over time.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

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Vega-C | Sentinel-1C

Avio S.p.A | Italy
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Dec. 5, 2024, 9:20 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Sentinel-1C carries an advanced radar technology to provide an all-weather, day-and-night supply of imagery of Earth’s surface. It is a replacement satellite to complete the Sentinel-1 duo after Sentinel-1B suffered a technical anomaly.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

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Recent Launches