Yesterday, ESA and Arianespace signed for the production of the first Vega launcher and Arianespace and the ELV company - the European Launch Vehicle, Avio Group, signed a frame contract for five launch vehicles, with a firm order of one.

Antonio Fabrizi, ESA Director of Launchers, Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace and Francesco De Pasquale, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ELV SpA, signed these two contracts during a ceremony that was held in Paris, France, like the Vega flexibility demonstration flights frame contract signed in December 2009, stipulated.

The development of the Vega launcher will soon be ending, as the first qualification flight is already scheduled for 2011, and “this signature is a major milestone in the Vega program as it marks the transition from the development phase to the exploitation phase and safeguards the schedule of the first Vega user missions of ESA,” Mr Fabrizi said.

He added that “together with Ariane-5 and Soyuz, Vega will contribute to providing Europe with the full range of launch services required for Europe’s institutional and commercial missions with greater flexibility.”

Final tests are currently being made at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, to verify that the entire system works impeccably.

If the Vega launcher is still a mystery for some, some specifications need to be given:

Vega is a launch system build by European institutions, in need of maintaining their competitiveness in the world's launch service market.

As the global tendency is building smaller satellites, especially for scientific and Earth observation missions, Vega will easily assume this type of missions.

With a height of 30 m and a diameter of 3 m, it will be able to launch into a low polar orbit - 300 km to 1500 km, payloads of 1.5 tonnes.

Vega is a 'single-body' launcher with three solid-propellant stages (P80, Zefiro 23 and Zefiro 9) and one additional liquid-propellant stage (AVUM), so it should have no problem placing multiple payloads into orbit.

The flexibility of the Vega launch system will be tested during five missions, as part of the VERTA (Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment) program.

There will be two launches a year until Vega will be introduced for commercial exploitation.

The program is supported by seven ESA Member States - Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden.