Credit: Avio
As part of its nine-month 2025 financial report, Italian rocket builder Avio shared images of several flight components for its FD1 rocket demonstrator, including the fairing, propellant tanks, avionics, and interstage.
In early October, Avio announced the successful completion of a static fire test of its MR10 DMX2 LOX-methane rocket engine. According to the company, this configuration of the engine is the fully integrated flight variant of the MR10 DM2 model that was tested in August 2025. It marked the first time Avio had publicly revealed specific hardware intended for use aboard the first of two flight demonstrators being developed under its Space Transportation System (STS) programme.
In March 2023, Avio was awarded a €181 million contract for its Space Transportation System (STS) programme, aimed at maturing key technologies for the company’s Vega E successor. The company also received €103 million to develop the MR60 rocket engine, a more powerful variant of the MR10 engine developed under a European Space Agency contract. According to Avio’s 2024 full-year financial report, published in March 2025, the MR60 is described as the “building block” of the post-Vega E “Vega Next” launch vehicle, which the company expects to introduce after 2032. Both the STS and MR60 programmes are being funded through the Italian government’s €191.5 billion National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
On 28 October, the company published its nine-month 2025 financial report, which included an update on the development of its FD1 demonstrator. In addition to the successful MR10 test firing, the company revealed that it had completed a static load test of the rocket’s cryogenic propellant tank. The test applies mechanical forces to the tank to verify that its structure can withstand the stresses experienced during launch.
While the propellant tank was the only FD1 demonstrator component for which the company revealed specific testing, it also shared images of a functional unit of the demonstrator’s avionics, the rocket interstage, an actuator that will gimbal the MR10 engine, and the demonstrator’s fairing.
The image of the fairing also appeared to show something Avio was not yet ready to reveal. It featured an Avio logo superimposed on that of Dal Zotto, an Italian aerospace component manufacturer. While Dal Zotto has supplied components for both Ariane 6 and Vega-C, the company’s involvement with the FD1 demonstrator has not been publicly confirmed.
Avio is currently in the integration and testing phase of the FD1 demonstrator at its manufacturing plant in Colleferro, Italy. This will be followed by an initial stage test expected early next year.