This paper presents a technical and programmatic overview of the Vega launcher currently in development for the European Space Agency. The program includes the development and qualification activities of the Vega launch system, in particular of the launcher and of the ground infrastructures in Kourou. Several programmatic milestones have been successfully achieved so far: most of the subsystems have gone through their Critical Design Review and, in some cases, Qualification Review. The launcher System Critical Design Review has been performed during 2007 as well. Concerning propulsion, all the three development models of the solid rocket motors have been successfully tested between December 2005 and December 2006. The first qualification model engine of the liquid propulsion upper module has successfully completed its firing campaign and the test campaign for the second model has just started. The Vega ground segment program has entered in its final phase by completing the detailed design of the various subsystems. The installation phase in the launch range site (Kourou, French Guiana) is in full swing. The integration of the mobile gantry, necessary to integrate the launcher, is almost completed as for the main structure. The paper also presents an overview of the Vega future exploitation and of its perspectives and applications.
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