Vega is an expendable launch system in use by Arianespace jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on 13 February 2012.
It is designed to launch small payloads — 300 to 2,500 kg satellites for scientific and Earth observation missions to polar and low Earth orbits. The reference Vega mission is a polar orbit bringing a spacecraft of 1,500 kilograms to an altitude of 700 kilometers.
Vega is a single-body launcher with three solid rocket stages, the P80 first stage, the Zefiro 23 second stage, the Zefiro 9 third stage, and a liquid rocket upper module called AVUM.
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