The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 22 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
Underpinning Vega-E is the M10 liquid oxygen-methane engine, which will replace the Zefiro-9 and AVUM+ third and fourth stages of Vega-C to create a more efficient three-stage launcher. Vega, first flown in 2012, can place about 1,400 kg into a 700 km polar orbit. Vega-C increases that performance to about 2.3 t for about the same cost. Vega-E will add another 20% performance improvement while reducing launch service costs by a fifth.