The Zefiro 9A third stage rocket motor fired successfully, providing a new small launch vehicle for Europe.
That final qualification test firing of the third stage took place at the Salto di Quirra Interforce Test Range in Sardinia, Italy.
The motor took almost two minutes to completely burn its propellant load, witnessed by engineers and technicians, representatives of Avio, ELV and the European Space Agency, ESA/IPT.
Main objectives of the test were to verify behavior of the Zefiro 9A motor in a fully flight-representative configuration, to confirm the design performance and to collect information for system studies at stage level.
As soon as the test was over, the project team met in order to verify the preliminary results for ballistic performance (pressure and thrust curves) and the thrust vector control behavior. This first analysis confirmed the overall success of the test.
After the first qualification test, completed in October 2008, Tuesday’s firing was the final step in the complete qualification test program for the Zefiro 9A. This test also completes the overall ground qualification test campaign for all three Vega solid rocket motors.
For Massimo Panicucci, product assurance manager in the Vega Integrated Project Team, this was the sixth Zefiro solid rocket motor static firing test. “A firing is the last verification step following a long series of reviews and key points where quality representatives of industry and ESA scrutinize and certify all the operations necessary for the correct execution of the test. This success brings me further motivation for the milestones that still have to be accomplished before the Vega qualification flight.”
The Zefiro 9A motor is loaded with 10 tons of solid propellant and forms the third stage motor of the Vega launcher.