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By offering configurations able to handle payloads ranging from a single satellite up to one main satellite plus six microsatellites, Vega is expected to be an integral part of the Arianespace family, alongside the workhorse Ariane 5, Soyuz launcher and the future Ariane 6 rocket.<\/p>\n
Ariane 6 will see Vega evolve into the Vega-C, which is set to debut in 2018.<\/p>\n
Arianespace started work on Vega back in 2003 \u2013 as much as the origins of the concept range back to the 1990s \u2013 with ELV SpA (Italy) the lead manufacturer.<\/p>\n
Vega utilizes a P80 advanced solid propellant first stage motor, featuring a novel filament-wound casing structure, utilizing new-generation, high-quality production techniques.<\/p>\n
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Vega\u2019s P80 is one of the largest, most powerful one-piece solid-fuel stages ever built. Sized at just under 11 meters tall, this propulsion system has a 3-meter diameter and weighs in at approximately 95 tons. Shuttle \u2013 and SLS \u2013 Solid Rocket Motors are created via the assembly of segments.<\/p>\n
The second and third stages \u2013 designated Zefiro 23 and Zefiro 9, respectively \u2013 also use solid propellant motors, while the launcher is topped off by the bi-propellant liquid upper stage (called AVUM \u2013 Attitude and Vernier Upper Module).<\/p>\n
Although the debut launch was originally targeting 2007, the first mission \u2013 designated VV01 per Arianespace\u2019s system \u2013 enjoyed a successful launch, carrying nine satellites into space during its February 12, 2012 mission.<\/p>\n
![\"2016-12-05-000513\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/2016-12-05-000513-350x262.jpg\")
The success qualified the overall Vega system, including the vehicle, the ground infrastructure and operations, from the launch campaign to the payload separation and disposal of the upper module.<\/p>\nIn particular, the mission demonstrated the vehicle\u2019s performance and payload services.<\/p>\n
Vega\u2019s most important mission so far was the successful launch of the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV). ESA recently announced that program will also evolve into the Space Rider vehicle.<\/p>\n
For Monday\u2019s launch, the mission involved the G\u00f6kt\u00fcrk-1A observation satellite, managed within the scope of a turnkey contract with Telespazio as prime contractor for the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries of Turkey.<\/p>\n
Liftoff of Vega from the Spaceport\u2019s SLV launch site occurred exactly 10:51:44 a.m., local time in French Guiana on December 5 (13:51:44, Universal Time), with the launcher carrying a total payload of approximately 1,140 kg.<\/p>\n
During Flight VV08, Vega\u2019s liquid bipropellant upper stage \u2013 called the Attitude and Vernier Upper Module (AVUM) \u2013 was tasked with two burns before G\u00d6KT\u00dcRK-1 was released.<\/p>\n
![\"2016-12-03-025407\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/2016-12-03-025407-1-350x239.jpg\")
The G\u00f6kt\u00fcrk-1 satellite has a dry weight of about 1,000 kg and a design life of seven years. Its observation payload includes a high resolution optical instrument and an onboard X-band digital imaging system to handle data compression, storage and downloading.<\/p>\nFrom its sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude lower than 700 km, the satellite\u2019s revisit time over Turkey will be less than two days.<\/p>\n
The mission was the vehicle\u2019s fifth mission at the service of Earth observation.<\/p>\n
The G\u00f6kt\u00fcrk-1 program is managed by Telespazio as prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space, which is responsible for the satellite, and local industrial partners including Tai A.S., Aselsan A.S., Tubitak Uekae, Roketsan A.S. and TR Tecnoloji.<\/p>\n
(Images via Arianespace).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arianespace\u2019s Vega rocket successfully launched Turkey\u2019s first governmental satellite for Earth observation. The launch of the G\u00f6kt\u00fcrk-1A satellite occurred on schedule with a T-0 of 13:51 GMT on Monday, lifting off from launch pad ELA-1 at Europe\u2019s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana \u2013 ahead of a 57 minute ride to orbit. Vega Launch: The four-stage launcher […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1311],"class_list":["post-38905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-vega"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38905"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}