The 16th successful launch of the European lightweight rocket Vega took place from Kourou, French Guiana on April 29, 2021 at 04:50 Kyiv time.

Primary payload of Pléiades Neo 3 satellite, weighing around 750 kg, has been put in orbit atop Vega rocket on behalf of the Airbus Defence and Space. It is the first of four satellites, the whole constellation of which (Pléiades Neo 3, 4, 5, 6) with best-of-class geolocation accuracy and twice-a-day revisit are able to visit any point on the globe at least twice daily, will provide commercial and institutional customers with high-resolution imagery.

Five auxiliary payloads through the piggyback mission Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) have been also orbited – Norsat-3 Earth-observation microsatellite for the Norwegian Space Agency and four cubesats for the operators Eutelsat, NanoAvionics /Aurora Insight and Spire.

Yuzhnoye SDO developed and PA Yuzhmash serially manufactures the RD-843 main engine unit, which is integrated into the Stage 4 liquid-propellant propulsion system of the Vega rocket.

Specific feature of the RD-843 main engine unit is its capability of multiple burns in flight (up to 5 burns) in order to deploy satellites into different orbits. Currently improvement of the engine performances is ongoing to enhance the payload capability range.

Total of 18 Vega missions took place since 2012.