Mission Design for the CubeSat OUFTI-1

CHAPTER 55.1 The Vega LauncherVega, Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata, is the new European smalllauncher. It has been designed as a single body launcher with three solidpropulsion stages and an additional liquid propulsion restartable upper module,AVUM, used for attitude and orbit control and for satellite release. Unlikemost small launchers, Vega will be able to place multiple payloads into orbit.Its development started in 1998 and the first flight was initially expected in2007 from the Guyana Space Center, CSG, but different reasons causes somedelays and, up to know, it is scheduled for the December 2008.It is funded by Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and TheNetherlands.Vega is 30 m high, has a maximum diameter of 3 m and weights 137 tons atlift-off. As shown in fig.5.1, it has three sections: the Lower Composite, theUpper Composite known as AVUM and the Payload Composite.Figure 5.1: Vega launcherGalli Stefania 26 University of Liège