Arianespace launched a new reconnaissance satellite for the French military in orbit on Tuesday (Dec. 29), marking the European launch provider’s final mission in 2020.
A Russian-built Soyuz rocket launched the satellite, called Optical Space Component 2 (or Composante Spatiale Optique 2, CSO-2, in French) from the Guyana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana in South America. The launch took place at 11:42 a.m. EST (1642 GMT) after a one-day delay due to inclement weather.
CSO-2 is a next-generation satellite imaging satellite designed to help replace the aging Helios 1 and 2 systems in France.
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“CSO-2 is the second in a constellation of three identical military observation satellites that will operate in different polar orbits to accomplish two missions: reconnaissance for CSO-1 and CSO-3, and identification for CSO-2, which will join CSO. add -1 launched in December 2018, ” officials from the French space agency CNES, which oversees the mission, said in a statement.
Built by Airbus, the 7,852-lb. (3,562 kilograms) CSO-2 will orbit the Earth at a distance of about 300 miles (480 kilometers), lower than its predecessor CSO-1, which orbited 500 miles (800 km). The satellite was successfully deployed about an hour after launch.
“It will acquire day / night, clear, very high-resolution weather images in the visible and infrared in a range of display modes to meet a wide range of operational requirements,” CNES officials wrote in the statement.
According to Spaceflight Now, the CSO satellites are expected to have a resolution of about 14 inches (35 centimeters) from that 500 mile orbit. CSO-2 is designed to last at least 10 years in orbit, CNES officials said.
The French government is reportedly spending $ 1.5 billion on the new CSO surveillance satellite program, a cost that includes the satellites and ground systems, Spaceflight Now reported.
The successful launch of CSO-2 marked Arianespace’s 10th mission of 2020 and the fifth Soyuz flight this year. But even if the company does end for the year, it has a series of Ariane 5, Vega and Soyuz flights for 2021, including the highly anticipated launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on Oct. 31.
“2021 will be intense for Arianespace,” Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israel said after the launch. “So 2021 will be very busy indeed and that’s why we’ll take a little rest here at the end of the year.”
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us on @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.