Vega flight VV09

Vega flight VV09 was the launch of the Sentinel-2B satellite by the Vega launcher.

Payload

The only payload of the flight was the Sentinel-2B multispectral Earth observation satellite. The total payload mass was approximately 1208 kg, including the satellite and its adapter. The twin of Sentinel-2A, Sentinel-2B is increasing the coverage and capacity of the European Commission's Copernicus Programme. It had a mass at liftoff of approximately 1130 kg and a design lifetime of more than 7 years. The target orbit was identical to Sentinel-2A's, except for an opposite argument of latitude (180° apart), optimising the coverage of the constellation. As a consequence, the orbit properties are shared: 10:30 local time of the ascending node (LTDN) sun-synchronous orbit with a repeat cycle of 5 days at an altitude of about 786 km and inclination of 98.6°.

Flight

The launch occurred from the ELV launch pad at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, on 7 March 2017 at 01:49:24UTC (6 March 2017 at 22:49:24 local time). The satellite was separated some 58 minutes later, before the reentry of the upper stage of the launch into the Earth's atmosphere. It was the Arianespace mission (the  in 2017), and the  successful Vega launch (the  in 2017). Sentinel-2B was Airbus's and the European Commission's  spacecraft to be launched by Arianespace (of which it was the  Earth observation satellite launched).
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