In 1978, a small group of engineers at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, believed they would be more valuable if they teamed up to provide services to their client, the European Space Agency (ESA). They bid for and won a contract to provide satellite operations support to ESA missions, and VEGA was formed.
25 years later, we still hold that original contract*. We now have 250 people working in scientific, military and commercial space, worldwide.
As the company grew, and the range of specialist consulting and technology services increased, we found exciting opportunities where organisations faced technologically sophisticated, people dependent, business-critical challenges, and we diversified successfully into both the defence and government markets.
The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1992 and since then has grown both organically and by acquisition. Today, VEGA employs over 500 highly-skilled people working in space, defence and government, delivering specialist services worldwide, with offices and operations in Europe and in the US.
|
VEGA is named after a star in the Lyra constellation. 'Vega' is the fifth brightest star in the sky (top left) and the star by which the brightness of other stars is measured. 'Vega' is about three times the size of the sun and 50 times as luminous. Its distance from the earth is 26 light-years. 14,000 years ago, 'Vega' was regarded as the 'North Star.' The star Polaris is now that star. 'Vega' will return to its position as 'North Star' 12,000 years from now.