• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • NEWS:
  • SatNews
  • SatMagazine
  • MilSatMagazine
  • SmallSat News
  • |     EVENTS:
  • SmallSat Symposium
  • Satellite Innovation

SatNews

  • HOME
  • Magazines
  • Events
  • Perspectives
  • Industry Calendar
    • IN PERSON
    • VIRTUAL
  • Subscribe

Airbus + CNES Developed CO3D Constellation Launch To Be Handled By Arianespace

December 8, 2020

Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël and Philippe Pham, Senior Vice President – Head of Earth Observation, Navigation and Science, at Airbus, have announced that the two companies have signed the launch contract for the CO3D constellation of Earth Observation (EO) smallsats developed with the French CNES space agency.

Weighing approximately 300 kg. each, these satellites will be launched together as co-passengers on a single flight and deployed into polar orbit at an altitude of 500 km. The mission is scheduled for 2023 from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, using a Vega C launch vehicle.

The CO3D constellation is comprised of four identical satellites, built on an all-electric platform developed by Airbus. As a result of the CNES and Airbus partnership, CO3D will deliver stereoscopic images of the Earth at a resolution of 50 cm, with a high revisit rate. This data will be fed into an Airbus digital processing system, which will integrate advanced algorithms from CNES to quickly produce ultra-precise 3D maps of our planet’s surface.

Vega is the new-generation, highly versatile member of Arianespace’s launcher family, alongside the heavy-lift Ariane 5 and medium-lift Soyuz, deployed from the Guiana Space Center. Vega is a European Space Agency (ESA) program, with Colleferro, Italy-based, Avio as the industrial prime contractor.

The performance and versatility of Vega allows Arianespace to provide the best possible launch solutions in LEO for small- and medium-size payloads, spanning a wide range of applications (EO, science, education, defense).

With Vega C, Arianespace will offer increased performance and volume under the payload fairing for its passengers. The inaugural launch of Vega C is scheduled for 2021.

Following the signature of this contract, Stéphane Israël said, “With several months to go before the first Vega C launch, this new-generation European light-lift launcher has reaffirmed its ability to meet users’ innovative needs in low orbit, especially with the ability to carry multiple payloads – benefitting from the improved performance. For Arianespace, this is a further sign of the renewed confidence in the Vega system by our long-time partners of Airbus and CNES.”

Filed Under: Earth Observation (EO), Launch, SmallSat

Primary Sidebar

Most Read Stories

  • AST Space Mobile To Become A Publicly Traded Company
  • UPDATE: Spaceflight's Orbital Transfer Vehicles Have Launches In Sight
  • United Launch Alliance Rocks NROL-44 Mission Launches to Support National Security
  • CNES Selects ANYWAVES For Reflectarray Antenna For Smallsats Demo
  • Top Global Teleport Operators Of 2020 Named By World Teleport Association (WTA)

About Satnews

  • Contacts
  • History

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020

Secondary Sidebar

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy
We Love Our Advertisers.
And you will too!

Please disable your adblock browser plugin to continue...

We promise to keep it unobtrusive.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.
x
Sign up Now (For Free)
Access daily or weekly satellite news updates covering all aspects of the commercial and military satellite industry.
Invalid email address
Notify Me Regarding ( At least one ):
We value your privacy and will not sell or share your email or other information with any other company. You may also unsubscribe at anytime.

Click Here to see our full privacy policy.
Thanks for subscribing!