Arianespace has announced a new contract for its new Vega C rocket with long-time partners Airbus and French space agency CNES, in a mission scheduled for 2023 from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. Under the deal, four mini-satellites will be launched together as co-passengers on a single flight and deployed into polar orbit at an altitude of 500 km. Forming the CO3D (Composante Optique 3D) constellation, they will deliver stereoscopic images that will be used to create 3D maps of the earth’s surface, via processing systems and algorithms developed by Airbus and CNES.
Initially expected in 2020, the inaugural flight of the Vega C launch vehicle is now scheduled for next year.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now
We welcome comments that add value to the discussion. We attempt to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam, and our editors frequently review the comments to ensure they are appropriate. If you see a comment that you believe is inappropriate to the discussion, you can bring it to our attention by using the report abuse links. As the comments are written and submitted by visitors of the Telecompaper website, they in no way represent the opinion of Telecompaper.