New Success for Avio's VEGA: 14th Launch, An All-Italian Mission

COLLEFERRO, Italy, March 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Italy is behind tonight's 14th successful VEGA space launcher mission, built by Avio. At about 3AM tonight, the rocket produced in Colleferro, near Rome, took off from the space base in French Guiana, bringing into orbit the PRISMA satellite, owned by the Italian Space Agency and built by a group of companies headed by OHB Italia, with Telespazio and Leonardo.

With this flight, Vega continues the streak of successful missions that make this European launcher one of the most reliable and versatile on the global market.

The PRISMA satellite is equipped with a hyperspectral analysis technology that permits the monitoring of pollution and climate change.

"Once again, Vega has successfully completed its mission, demonstrating a reliability level never before seen in a launcher" - stated Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio. "We are particularly satisfied as Prisma is an all-Italian mission that proves the country's ability to build systems and the extensive expertise of the entire Italian space industrial chain.

The success of Vega's 14th consecutive flight, ahead of the qualification launch of the Vega C expected in the initial months of 2020, also confirms, in a competitive and quickly-growing market, our global leadership in the small launchers sector and our ability to satisfy increasingly demanding customers."

This success closely follows the remarkable financial results published last week, which showed for Avio Group, listed on the STAR segment of the Milan Stock Exchange as the only space launching company globally listed on the stock market, a double-digit growth in terms of revenues, margins and net profit. These results allowed the management to propose a 15% increase in the stock dividend, and pose the basis for a renewed confidence in the future growth plans.   

About Avio

Avio is a leading international group engaged in the construction and development of space launchers and solid and liquid propulsion systems for space travel. The experience and know-how built up over more than 50 years puts Avio at the cutting-edge of the space launcher sector, solid, liquid and cryogenic propulsion and tactical propulsion. Avio operates in Italy, France and French Guyana with 5 facilities, employing approx. 900 highly-qualified personnel, of which approx. 30% involved in research and development. Avio is a prime contractor for the Vega programme and a sub-contractor for the Ariane programme, both financed by the European Space Agency ("ESA"), placing Italy among the limited number of countries capable of producing a complete spacecraft.

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SOURCE Avio