{"id":11516,"date":"2021-08-15T19:52:44","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T11:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/vega-rocket-set-to-launch-next-airbus-pleiades-neo-remote-sensing-satellite\/"},"modified":"2021-08-15T19:52:44","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T11:52:44","slug":"vega-rocket-set-to-launch-next-airbus-pleiades-neo-remote-sensing-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/vega-rocket-set-to-launch-next-airbus-pleiades-neo-remote-sensing-satellite\/","title":{"rendered":"Vega rocket set to launch next Airbus Pl\u00e9iades Neo remote sensing satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The payload compartment containing the Pl\u00e9iades Neo 4 Earth observation satellite is lifted into the Vega rocket\u2019s launch pad gantry in preparation for Monday night\u2019s mission. Credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Airbus-owned commercial optical Earth-imaging satellite and four small CubeSat rideshare payloads are set for launch Monday night from French Guiana aboard a European Vega rocket.<\/p>\n

The 98-foot-tall (30-meter) Vega launcher is poised for liftoff from the Guiana Space Center, located on the northeastern coast of South America, at 9:47:06 p.m. EDT Monday (0147:06 GMT Tuesday).<\/p>\n

The mission, managed by the French launch services company Arianespace, will deploy the second of four planned satellites in a modernized fleet of Airbus-built Earth observatories, joining an identical spacecraft launched on the previous Vega rocket flight in April.<\/p>\n

Monday night\u2019s mission will deliver Airbus\u2019s Pl\u00e9iades Neo 4 Earth observation satellite into a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of around 388 miles (625 kilometers).<\/p>\n

The new satellite will take a position in a similar orbit as the Pl\u00e9iades Neo 3 spacecraft that launched in April, but will fly in a slot 180 degrees from its counterpart to begin enabling repeat coverage of the same location on Earth.<\/p>\n

The Pl\u00e9iades Neo satellites feature improvements over Airbus\u2019s first-generation Pl\u00e9iades Earth observation satellites launched in 2011 and 2012. The final two Pl\u00e9iades Neo satellites will launch together on an a Vega C rocket \u2014 an upgraded variant of the Vega launcher \u2014 in 2022.<\/p>\n

Airbus says it entirely funded the development of the Pl\u00e9iades Neo satellites, with intentions to sell the imagery commercially to private companies and government users. The company announced the Pl\u00e9iades Neo program in 2016, and Airbus assembles the Pl\u00e9iades Neo spacecraft at its facility in Toulouse, France.<\/p>\n

The four-satellite program is costing Airbus about 600 million euros, or roughly $700 million.<\/p>\n

The Pl\u00e9iades Neo satellites can produce optical imagery of Earth\u2019s surface with a resolution of 11.8 inches, 0r 30 inches, according to Airbus. That\u2019s good enough to resolve features such as vehicles and road markings.<\/p>\n

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The Pl\u00e9iades Neo 4 Earth observation satellite is enclosed inside the Vega rocket\u2019s payload fairing in preparation for launch. Credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Photo Optique Video du CSG \u2013 JM Guillon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The imaging resolution of Airbus\u2019s four Pl\u00e9iades Neo satellites is comparable to the resolution provided by Maxar\u2019s six-satellite WorldView Legion surveillance satellites due to begin launching next year. The companies are competitors, providing the highest-resolution Earth observation imagery on the global commercial market.<\/p>\n

With the help of laser inter-satellite communications links, the Pl\u00e9iades Neo satellites will be able to respond rapidly to tasking requests within 30 to 40 minutes, according to Airbus.<\/p>\n

A single Pl\u00e9iades Neo satellite, using a new agile pointing capability enabled by control moment gyroscopes, can turn side-to-side to observe the same location every two days. Once all four satellites are in orbit, the constellation will be able to image any location on Earth twice a day.<\/p>\n

Each Pl\u00e9iades Neo spacecraft is designed to operate for at least 10 years.<\/p>\n

One Pl\u00e9iades Neo satellite can collect images covering an area of nearly 200,000 square miles (500,000 square kilometers) every day, Airbus says.<\/p>\n

Airbus released the first images from the Pl\u00e9iades Neo 3 satellite in May. The company plans make commercial imagery from Pl\u00e9iades Neo 3 available to customers later this year.<\/p>\n

The 2,032-pound (922-kilogram) Pl\u00e9iades Neo 4 spacecraft is enclosed inside the payload fairing of a European Vega rocket for liftoff Monday night from the Guiana Space Center.<\/p>\n

The Vega rocket\u2019s solid-fueled first stage will quickly propel the launcher away from the spaceport in South America, steering the vehicle on a trajectory north from the tropical launch base over the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

Producing around 680,000 pounds of thrust, the rocket\u2019s P80 first stage booster will burn through its 97-ton (88-metric ton) supply of pre-packed solid propellants in less than two minutes.<\/p>\n

The Vega rocket\u2019s Zefiro 23 and Zefiro 9 second and third stage motors will fire next. The launcher\u2019s payload shroud will jettison to fall into the Atlantic Ocean around four minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n

A liquid-fueled upper stage, known as the Attitude and Vernier Upper Module, will ignite two times to maneuver the Pl\u00e9iades Neo 4 spacecraft into its targeted deployment orbit. The satellite is scheduled to separate from the AVUM upper stage about 54-and-a-half minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n

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The Great Pyramid of Giza pictured by the Pl\u00e9iades Neo 3 satellite earlier this year. Credit: Airbus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two more burns by the AVUM upper stage will reduce the rocket\u2019s altitude to around 344 miles (554 kilometers) for separation of four rideshare payloads more than an hour-and-a-half into the mission.<\/p>\n

One of the rideshare payloads is a briefcase-sized six-unit CubeSat for a French startup company named Unseenlabs founded in 2015.<\/p>\n

The small spacecraft, named BRO-4, is the fourth satellite in the company\u2019s growing constellation designed to provide maritime surveillance services. The three previous satellites launched aboard Rocket Lab missions.<\/p>\n

Unseenlabs says its fleet of nanosatellites will be able to locate and identify ships around the world, providing tracking services for maritime operators and helping security forces watch for pirates and smugglers. The company plans to build out a fleet of 20 to 25 nanosatellites by 2025.<\/p>\n

Three small CubeSats sponsored by the European Space Agency are also set for launch Monday night.<\/p>\n

The RadCube spacecraft is a three-unit CubeSat was developed by a Hungarian company named C3S. Designed as a technology demonstration mission, RadCube carries instruments to measure radiation and magnetic fields in low Earth orbit, collecting important data for space weather forecasting.<\/p>\n

ESA\u2019s SunStorm CubeSat, developed by Reaktor Space Lab in Finland, will test a miniature solar X-ray flux monitor measuring X-ray missions from coronal mass ejections, huge eruptions from the sun\u2019s surface that can generate space weather storms affecting satellite operations, and power grids and communications networks on Earth.<\/p>\n

The instrument to be tested on the SunStorm nanosatellite is similar to a sensor ESA plans to fly on a future operational space weather monitoring mission.<\/p>\n

The third ESA-supported CubeSat on Monday night\u2019s launch is LEDSat, a small spacecraft developed by students at Sapienza University of Rome. The mission is designed to investigate the performance of Light Emitting Diodes as a way of tracking satellites in low Earth orbit, according to ESA.<\/p>\n

ESA selected the LEDSat mission for a rideshare launch opportunity through the agency\u2019s \u201cFlight Your Satellite!\u201d educational program.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The payload compartment containing the Pl\u00e9iades Neo 4 Earth observation satellite is lifted into the Vega rocket\u2019s launch pad gantry in preparation for Monday night\u2019s mission. Credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace An Airbus-owned commercial optical Earth-imaging satellite and four small CubeSat rideshare payloads are set for launch Monday night from French Guiana aboard a European Vega rocket. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11516"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}