Video: Vega ups to 10/10 with successful Nighttime Launch from French Guiana
Europe’s Vega rocket lifted off from the ZLV Launch Site at the Guiana Space Center at 1:58:33 UTC on August 2, 2017 – heading off on a multi-orbit mission with a pair of Israeli-built satellites. Vega fired its three-solid fueled stages in close succession before the AVUM upper stage took over for five main engine burns to lift the satellites to their respective orbits and then remove the upper stage from orbit. Aboard the vehicle were the 368-Kilogram OPTSAT-3000 satellite setting out on a six-year mission to collect image reconnaissance for the Italian military, and the 264kg VENµS satellite that hosts a 12-band imager for ecosystem research and a pair of Hall Effect Thrusters for orbit changes & drag compensation.
