A Vega rocket, the smallest of the European launchers, took off Monday evening from Kourou, in French Guiana, to put into orbit an Earth observation satellite of the Pleiades Neo constellation.
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The machine left the ground at 22:47 local (01:47 GMT) at the Guyanese Space Center, for a mission which should last a little less than two hours.
This is the second launch of a Vega rocket since the start of the year for Arianespace, and the 19th since the launcher's first flight in 2012. It carries the second of the four very high resolution satellites of the Pleiades Neo constellation. - the first has been in orbit since April 28 - as well as four nanosatellites, cubesats.
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The main cargo is a state-of-the-art optical satellite manufactured by and for Airbus Defense and Space Intelligence, Pléiades Neo 4. It is to be deployed to an orbit of 625 km. Three of the four cubesats are intended for the European Space Agency for scientific missions while the fourth is for a French startup, Unseenlabs, specializing in maritime traffic surveillance.
