For its 10th launch of the year, and the 11th Vega mission since this launcher began its career at the Guiana Space Center in 2012, Arianespace will orbit the MOHAMMED VI – A. satellite. This Earth observation satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco was developed by a consortium comprising Thales Alenia Space as system prime contractor and Airbus as co-prime.
Flight VV11 marks the eighth Earth observation mission for Vega, a versatile light launcher.
The liftoff will be from the Vega Launch Complex (SLV) in Kourou, French Guiana (South America).
Date and time
Liftoff is scheduled for Tuesday, November 7, 2017, at exactly:
8:42:31 p.m., in Washington D.C.
10:42:31 p.m., local time in French Guiana
01:42:31, Universal Time (UTC), on November 8
1:42:31 a.m., in Rabat, on November 8
2:42:31 a.m., in Paris, on November 8
Mission duration
The nominal mission duration (from liftoff to separation of the satellite) is: 55 minutes, 33 seconds.
Targeted ORBIT FOR THE MOHAMMED VI – A SATELLITE
Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO)
The Launch Readiness Review (LRR) will take place on Monday, November 6, 2017 in Kourou, to authorize the start of operations for the final countdown.
The MOHAMMED VI – A satellite is an Earth observation satellite built for the Kingdom of Morocco by Thales Alenia Space as system prime contractor and Airbus as co-prime.
The MOHAMMED VI – A satellite will be in particular used for mapping and land surveying activities, regional development, agricultural monitoring, the prevention and management of natural disasters, monitoring changes in the environment and desertification, as well as border and coastal surveillance.
Thales Alenia Space, as system prime contractor, supplied the payload, including the optical instrument, the image transmission subsystem, and the ground segment for image processing and production. Airbus, as satellite prime contractor, was in charge of its integration, as well as supplying the platform and the ground segment for mission planning and satellite control.
For further information, download the Launch Kit by clicking here:
http://www.arianespace.com/press-kits/
To watch a live, high-speed online transmission of the launch (including commentary from the launch site in French and English), go to arianespace.com on November 7, 2017 starting 15 minutes before liftoff.
You also can follow the launch live on your iPhone or iPad (the Arianespace HD app is free).
About Arianespace
Arianespace uses space to make life better on Earth by providing launch services for all types of satellites into all orbits. It has orbited more than 550 satellites since 1980, using its family of three launchers, Ariane, Soyuz and Vega, from launch sites in French Guiana (South America) and Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Arianespace is headquartered in Evry, near Paris, and has a technical facility at the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, plus local offices in Washington, D.C., Tokyo and Singapore.
Arianespace is a subsidiary of ArianeGroup, which holds 74% of its share capital, with the balance held by 17 other shareholders from the European launcher industry.
