Arianespace to Launch Europe’s Copernicus Earth Observation Program Sentinel-2C Satellite on September 3
Sentinel-2C in clean room at Guiana Space Center
Arianespace’s next mission is scheduled for Tuesday September 3rd, 2024 at 10.50 p.m. local time (September 4th, at 1.50 a.m. UTC, 3.50 a.m. CEST), from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, with a Vega launcher. This mission, called “VV24”, will place its passenger, the Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite, into Sun-Synchronous Orbit at an altitude of around 780 km. Spacecraft separation will occur 57 minutes after lift-off.
Sentinel-2C is part of the European Commission’s Copernicus Earth Observation program, the world’s most advanced Earth observation system. Copernicus provides continuous, independent, and reliable Earth observation data and services to public authorities, companies and citizens around the globe. The program is co-funded by the EU and ESA.
The Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite, with its wide swath, high-resolution, and multi-spectral imaging capabilities, will support a broad range of operational applications including agriculture, water quality monitoring, natural disaster management (e.g. wildfires, volcanoes, floods), and methane emissions detection. For agriculture, the mission helps to monitor crop health, predict yields and enable precision farming. Images are used to detect crop type, and to determine biophysical variables such as leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content and leaf water content to monitor plant growth and health.
Sentinel-2C reached French Guiana on July 18th, 2024 on board Canopée, the first sail-assisted cargo ship, pioneering environmental responsibility in industrial shipping. The satellite’s arrival in Kourou marked the beginning of the launch campaign led by Arianespace teams. The satellite will undergo a precise series of pre-launch tests in preparation for its lift-off, leading to the Launch Readiness Review (LRR) planned on September 2nd, 2024. The completion of the LRR triggers the approval for proceeding to the launch countdown.
Before the upcoming launch of Sentinel-2C, which was designed and built by a consortium of around 60 companies led by Airbus Defence and Space, Sentinel-1A, Sentinel-2A, Sentinel-1B and Sentinel-2B were successfully launched by Arianespace.
The VV24 mission once again highlights Arianespace’s commitment to space for a better life on Earth, as well as ensuring Europe’s independent access to space.
The Vega rocket, designed to send into different orbits mainly light Earth observation and scientific payloads, was launched for the first time from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in February 2012. In all, counting this final upcoming VV24 mission, Vega will have carried out a total of 22 launches throughout its years in service and the mission will mark the handover to the Vega C launcher, scheduled to return to flight by the end of 2024.
The Vega program is the result of the cooperation of 10 European countries. It has been developed under the leadership of ESA, with Italy (ASI) as the first contributor, Avio Spa (Colleferro, Italy) as a prime contractor delivering a ready to lift-off launcher to Arianespace, which will remain its operator up to Vega Flight 29 (VV29).
The VV24 launch at a glance:
349th launch for the Arianespace launcher family (312th launch from the Guiana Space Center)
10% of the satellites launched by Arianespace are Earth observation satellites
5th Sentinel satellite launched by Arianespace
50th satellite launched for the European Space Agency
22nd and final Vega launch