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First stage - P80 P80 SRM + IS01 and IS12 The first stage of the Vega uses the biggest, most powerful one-piece solid-fuel engine ever built. The P80 relies almost entirely on Italian technology developed by Avio, and is made of innovative materials, such as carbon fibre, which are also used in the second and third stages. Exhaust nozzle components, are produced in France at the Snecma/Safran plants in Bordeaux. Just under 11 m tall, this stage is 3 m in diameter, weighs 95 tons and burns ca 88 tons of solid propellant in little less than 2 minutes. The P80 generates a 300 ton thrust, the same as is produced by four Jumbo jets at take-off. At the end of 2006, the first static bench test was carried out successfully at the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana. The results were confirmed in late 2007, when the P80 passed its qualification test with flying colours, also at Kourou. |
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Length: 11.714 m Max diameter: 3.005 m Mass at Lift-off: 95 021 kg Burn time: 109.8 s Total Impulse: 240 470 KN s Structural Ratio: 7.67% |
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