Arianespace’s smallest rocket launched two remote sensing satellites co-produced by Israeli and European teams on 1 August night from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
The launch was made at 4:58 pm Kyiv time, the State Space Agency of Ukraine reported.
The engine RD-843 of the 4th stage of the carrier rocket was designed by the Yanhel State Design Bureau Yuzhny and manufactured by the State Enterprise Production Association ' 'Makarov Yuzhny Machine Building Plant'.
Vega brought took to solar-synchronous orbit two remote sensing satellites: the 368-kg Optsat-3000 and the 264-kg Venμs, or Vegetation and Environment monitoring on a New Micro Satellite.
The launch was the tenth in the Vega program and second in 2017. In just five years Vega has put into orbit 25 satellites for 19 customers around the world.