Artist's view of ESA Space Transportation Systems

Artist's view of the European Space Transportation Systems. Here shown are VEGA, VEGA-C, The Russian Soyuz, Ariane 5, as well as the two booster Ariane 6 (A62), the four booster Ariane 6 (A64) variants. Ariane 5 and Vega are operated from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Since 2011 with the cooperation of Russia, Soyuz has also been launched from Kourou. Vega-C is set to debut in 2020 increasing performance from Vega’s current 1.5 t to about 2.2 t in a reference 700 km polar orbit, covering identified European institutional users’ mission needs, with no increase in launch service and operating costs. The first flight of Ariane 6 is planned for 2020. Ariane 6 provides a modular architecture using either two boosters (Ariane 62) or four boosters (Ariane 64), depending on the required performance. The P120C solid-propellant boosters will be common with Vega-C.