Kourou, French Guiana. The VEGA (European Advanced Generation Launcher) rocket is successfully launched. This launcher, developed jointly by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA), was technically developed by ELV, a company jointly owned by the Italian company Avio and the ASI. The project began in 1998. The first launch delivered nine satellites into orbit, including the Italian LARES, built in collaboration with La Sapienza University, and Almasat 1, built at the University of Bologna’s Forlì engineering facility. The program’s name derives from the star Vega. Unlike many other launchers, Vega was built from carbon fiber. The rocket is designed to carry small payloads, between 300 and 2,000 kg, into low or polar orbits, particularly sun-synchronous ones. It can also carry two or three small payloads and place them in different orbits, an uncommon capability for launchers of this size. It consists of four stages, is about 30 meters high, and has a liftoff weight of 137 tons. Italy is the program’s largest funder (65%), followed by France (12.43%), Belgium (5.63%), Spain (5%), the Netherlands (3.5%), Switzerland (1.34%), and Sweden (0.8%).
