Europe's Vega space launch vehicle has carbon-fibre shell

Italian-based Avio is the prime contractor for the new Vega rocket, which was launched on 13 February from the Guiana Space Centre, in French Guiana.

The €710m Vega launcher is reported to be three times lighter than an equivalent rocket made with a steel shell.

Francesco De Pasquale, director of the Vega project at Avio, told The Engineer: ‘Using CFRP [carbon-fibre reinforced plastic] leads to a high strength-to-weight ratio.

‘Composites have a high stiffness, strength and toughness that is comparable to structural metal alloys,’ he said. ‘However, they usually provide these properties at a substantially reduced weight than the traditionally used metals.’

In the case of carbon fibre, the strength-to-weight ratio is nearly five times that of steel or aluminium said De Pasquale.

In addition, carbon fibre can be designed to be extra resistant in areas of the rocket that are subjected to the highest stress levels.

‘Composites can be made anisotropic,’ said De Pasquale. ‘This means they have different properties in different directions and this can be used to design a more efficient structure.