Avio S.p.A. is an Italian aerospace company specializing in space propulsion and launch systems. As the prime contractor for the Vega rocket family, including Vega and Vega C, Avio provides launch services for institutional, governmental, and commercial payloads. They are also a subcontractor for the Ariane program, supplying components like boosters and stage separation motors and partners with organizations like the European Space Agency (ESA). Associated keywords include: space launchers, solid-propellant motors, liquid propulsion, Vega, Vega C, Ariane, ESA.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Avio anticipates launching four to five times annually for the next few years with the goal of reaching five annual flights by 2023.
ArianeGroup and Avio are using booster commonality of the P120C between Ariane 6 and Vega C to increase production scale and lower costs for both rockets.
Arianespace and Avio will launch Vega C for the first time in March 2020, sending Lares-2 into a 6,000-kilometer orbit at an inclination of 75 degrees.
Avio launched once in March 2019 and planned three more missions in 2019: Falcon Eye in July, a fully booked dedicated rideshare mission in September, and a second Falcon Eye in November.
The European Space Agency’s April launcher agreement provided missions for the Avio-led Vega C rocket.
Vega C slipped from a maiden flight scheduled for 2019 to early 2020 due to Avio’s 2019 manifest rather than technical delays with the rocket.
Avio exceeded its upper 2018 revenue projection of 365,000,000 EUR due to faster than expected progress on next-generation projects with the European Space Agency.
Avio builds Europe’s light-lift Vega rocket and is developing the future Vega C rocket.
Avio has four Vega launches planned in 2019: the Italian Space Agency’s PRISMA satellite, the ESA-supported SSMS adaptor proof-of-concept flight, and the launches of the United Arab Emirates’ Falcon Eye 1 and Falcon Eye 2 satellites.
The European Space Agency is conducting studies with Avio and other companies on European microlaunchers ahead of an ESA ministerial conference in November where the agency plans to propose a program supporting privately-led, privately-funded microlauncher-based launch services.
Avio forecasted its backlog to decrease to between 750 million and 800,000,000 EUR for 2019 and described the backlog as cyclical.
On 2019-03-14, Avio disclosed that revenue for 2018 increased 13 percent to 388,700,000 EUR.
The new 10-million-euro loan will help Avio expand industrial capacity at its plant in Colleferro, Italy to meet anticipated production volumes.
Avio received a 40-million-euro loan from the European Investment Bank in 2017 and the new financing has the same conditions as that 2017 loan.
Avio is borrowing 10,000,000 EUR from the European Investment Bank to support new space propulsion technologies for Europe’s next-generation Vega C and Ariane 6 launchers.
Avio hopes to perform one or two SSMS launches annually as part of Vega and, eventually, Vega C.
The European Space Agency has worked on the SSMS adapter since 2016 alongside Avio of Colleferro, Italy.
A compromise reached in May by European Space Agency members will keep production of the P120C in Italy and allow Avio to produce up to 35 boosters annually.
MT Aerospace, a subsidiary of German space company OHB, prepared to run the second P120 manufacturing line in 2021 or 2022 using a carbon fiber production method intended to be more cost-effective than Avio’s technique.
The German division of ArianeGroup will build the turbo pumps that were previously supplied by Vega C prime contractor Avio.