AVUM
AVUM (Attitude and Vernier Upper Module) was the liquid-propellant fourth stage of Vega, providing attitude control, orbital insertion, multiple restarts, satellite release, and end-of-mission deorbiting. ESA records Vega's final flight on 5 September 2024 before the upgraded Vega-C replaced it; this record describes the retired original Vega module and keeps it distinct from Vega-C's AVUM+.
Identity
- Aliases
- AVUMAttitude and Vernier Upper ModuleVega AVUMVega upper-stage AVUM
- Domains
- spaceflight
- Identity Level
- integrated-system
- Kind
- integrated-propulsion-system
- Name
- AVUM
- Status
- retired
Details
- Description
- AVUM (Attitude and Vernier Upper Module) was the liquid-propellant fourth stage of Vega, providing attitude control, orbital insertion, multiple restarts, satellite release, and end-of-mission deorbiting. ESA records Vega's final flight on 5 September 2024 before the upgraded Vega-C replaced it; this record describes the retired original Vega module and keeps it distinct from Vega-C's AVUM+.
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 29, 2026 at 08:20:21 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 22, 2026 at 08:14:46 UTC
Other
- Sources
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-21
- Note
- ESA identifies AVUM as Vega's liquid-propellant fourth stage and states that its multiple restarts supported releasing multiple satellites into different orbits and deorbiting the stage at mission end.
- Publisher
- European Space Agency
- Title
- Vega
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-21
- Note
- ESA records Vega's final launch on 5 September 2024 after 12 years and 20 successful flights, with Vega-C replacing the original launcher; this supports the retired lifecycle status of the original AVUM context without changing AVUM+.
- Publisher
- European Space Agency
- Title
- Farewell to Vega