Vega E

In March 2023, Avio was awarded a €181 million contract for its Space Transportation System (STS) programme to mature key technologies for its Vega E successor.

Avio received €103.7 million to develop the MR60 rocket engine, a more powerful variant of its MR10 engine, for the upper stage of the Vega E rocket.

The MR60 engine is designed as the 'building block' of the post-Vega-E Vega Next launch vehicle, anticipated for introduction beyond 2032.

Avio's growth will be driven by a higher Vega C launch cadence, the introduction of Vega E, continued participation in the Ariane 6 programme, and the construction of a new defence production facility in the United States, expected to be completed by 2028.

A second ESA contract will fund further development of the Vega E upgraded rocket up to final ground qualification.

The launch agreement calls for allocation of existing infrastructure at the Kourou spaceport for Vega rockets, including using the former Ariane 5 pad for launches of the Vega E.

ESA is supporting development of the M10 upper stage engine for the Vega E variant, which is slated to make its first launch around 2025.

A test-firing of Vega E’s methane engine 3D-printed thrust chamber was completed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and reported by the European Space Agency on 2020-03-03.

Avio is developing Vega E, a variant planned for around 2025 that would replace Vega C’s third and fourth stages with a single liquid-oxygen and methane-powered stage and increase lift capacity to 2,800 kg.

Italy’s Ministry of Defence is considering satellites around 2,000 to 2,300 kg so they would be small enough to launch on Vega C or the longer-term Vega E and replace the ten-year-old Sicral-1B satellite.

The European Space Agency provided €53 million toward Vega E in November.