On Aug. 2, 2017, Vega flight VV10 lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana to deliver two Earth observation satellites, Optsat-3000 and Venμs, into their planned sun-synchronous orbits. (Credit: ESA)
On Aug. 2, 2017, Arianespace launched a Vega rocket carrying two Earth-observation satellites for Italy, France and Israel. It took 97 minutes to deliver the Optsat-3000 and Venμs satellites into their planned orbits.
Optsat-3000 will provide Italy's Ministry of Defense with global high-resolution images. With a mass of 368 kilograms, it was the first to be released after about 42 minutes. The 264-kilogram Vegetation and Environment monitoring on a New Micro Satellite (Venμs), sponsored by France and Israel, will study vegetation and the environment as well as demonstrate a new electrical propulsion system.
