Past launch
Launched successfully
Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE)
Vega-C, flown by Avio S.p.A
Launches / Vega-C
Vega-C, flown by Avio S.p.A
This was Avio S.p.A's first launch.
Counting every operator, it was the 114th orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2026, and the first from Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV).
Avio S.p.A
Joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to investigate the interaction between Earth’s protective shield – the magnetosphere – and the supersonic solar wind.
Vega-C is a single-body rocket nearly 35 m high with that weighs 210 tonnes on the launch pad. As with Vega, its main elements are three solid-propellant stages, an upper stage powered by a reignitable liquid-propellant engine and a payload fairing. Vega-C's P120C first stage replaces Vega’s smaller P80 to provide a significant increase in thrust at liftoff. It is also used as boosters (2 or 4) for the Ariane 6 rocket.
Avio S.p.A. is an Italian company operating in the aerospace sector with its head office in Colleferro near Rome, Italy. Founded in 1908, it is present in Italy and abroad with different commercial offices and 10 production sites.
1 launches so far, 1 of them successful.
It went up from Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV) at Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana.
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