Coleman Aerospace of Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a $1.2 million contract from Italy's Fiat Avio to assist in design of the Vega booster, a proposed small launch vehicle.
Formerly the vehicle was to have been a European Space Agency (ESA)-funded joint venture between Italy and France.
The programme is now being led by Italy after France withdrew. Still funded by ESA, the maiden flight is scheduled for 2002.
Coleman, meanwhile, has teamed with Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Astrium to operate a derivative of the Israeli-developed Shavit small satellite low Earth orbit (LEO) launcher from Alcantara, in Brazil.
The team, called LeoLink, will use upgraded versions of the Shavit, called the LK1 and 2, and will offer a purpose-built Astrium-developed small satellite bus.
The LK2 is set to use Thiokol Castor boosters and will have a capability to compete with Taurus and Lockheed Martin's Athena rockets.
Source: Flight International
