Soyuz launches Italian radar satellite, ESA exoplanet telescope – Spaceflight Now
A package of five satellites, including an Italian radar reconnaissance craft and a European Space Agency exoplanet science probe, soared into orbit Wednesday from French Guiana aboard a Russian-made Soyuz rocket.
The satellites lifted off at 0854:20 GMT (3:54:20 a.m. EST) Wednesday from the Guiana Space Center on the northeastern coast of South America. A Soyuz ST-A booster guided the payloads northward from French Guiana, and a Fregat upper stage took over less than 10 minutes after liftoff for a series of six engine burns to inject the satellites into three distinct polar sun-synchronous orbits.
The orbital ballet included deployments of satellites at three different altitudes.
The first payload released from the Fregat upper stage around 23 minutes after liftoff was Italy’s first COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation, or CSG 1, radar surveillance satellite. The 4,861-pound (2,205-kilogram) satellite, built by Thales Alenia Space, will provide high-resolution, all-weather radar imagery for military and civilian applications.
The Fregat targeted a 384-mile-high (619-kilometer) orbit to deploy the CSG 1 spacecraft, then performed additional engine firings to reach a higher 435-mile-high (700-kilometer) altitude for separation of the European Space Agency’s CHEOPS spacecraft. CHEOPS will peer at bright stars known to host exoplanets, helping astronomers learn more about the sizes of alien worlds beyond our solar system.
Then the rocket’s upper stage lowered its altitude below 500 kilometers (310 kilometers) for separation of three European CubeSats, ranging in side from a toaster oven to a small suitcase.
The OPS-SAT CubeSat from the European Space Agency is a free-for-use, in-orbit testbed for new software, applications and techniques in satellite control.
The EyeSat CubeSat from the French space agency, CNES, will observe the zodiacal light and image the Milky Way.
The French ANGELS CubeSat carries an Argos data collection payload to relay data from remote weather stations and buoys.
The Soyuz launch Wednesday was delayed 24 hours this week to resolve a technical issue with the launch vehicle. The mission closes out the 2019 launch calendar for Arianespace, which launched nine times this year across its fleet of Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega rockets. One of the Vega missions failed in its attempt to deliver a United Arab Emirates spy satellite to orbit.
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