February 13, 2012 - The LARES satellite (LAser Relativity Satellite) developed by prime contractor CGS Compagnia Generale per lo Spazio, a subsidiary of OHB Group, has been successfully launched from Kourou,  French Guyana, on board Vega’s maiden flight today at 11.00 am CET.

LARES is a national mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) whose main scientific goal is to test Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity using the international Laser Ranging Service (LRS) network to measure the frame-dragging or Lense-Thirring effect with very high accuracy. The system will therefore allow important scientific goals in gravitational physics, fundamental physics and earth science fields to be reached. The mass of LARES is approx. 400 kg.

CGS has been coordinating system development with the support of Telematic Solutions S.p.A. for the separation mechanism and numerous SMEs such as Sab Aerospace S.r.l. for the support structure and Temis S.r.l. for the telemetric system.

LARES was selected as the first payload for the maiden flight of the ESA launcher. In this connection, CGS has also been instrumental in the successful development of the ground segment of the Vega launcher. The company has designed, installed and qualified the distribution network of propellants and of all gas and fluids necessary for the launcher as well as all networks and monitoring and alarm systems of the launch site and all telecommunication systems necessary for the launch.