[ad_1]
An Arianespace Soyuz rocket successfully launched a new Earth observation satellite into orbit for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday (December 1).
The satellite, called FalconEye 2, took off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, at 8:33 pm EST (10:33 pm local time and 0133 GMT on Wednesday, December 2). The mission had been delayed for months partly due to a missile problem that arose in early March and partly due to the logistics associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Launch attempts on Sunday (November 29) and Monday (November 30) were delayed due to lightning and data reception problems, respectively.
“The satellite is equipped with a payload for Earth observation, with ultra-high resolution optical capabilities and complemented by a ground system for monitoring, reception and image processing,” the officials said in a statement. by Arianespace by FalconEye 2.
“[FalconEye 2] it will have a dual mission: to support the needs of the UAE military and to provide commercial images for the market, “added Arianespace.
The launch was the eighth of Arianespace in 2020. Three of these missions were launched by Soyuz rockets, three by the Ariane 5 boosters and two by the smaller Vega rocket, one of which failed to reach orbit at the start. Of this month.
FalconEye 2’s predecessor, FalconEye 1, was lost in another Vega launch failure, in July 2019. A few minutes after takeoff, Vega suffered a major anomaly, resulting in the loss of both the rocket and FalconEye 1.
An investigation concluded that Vega’s second-stage engine likely caused the rocket to fail, according to results published in September 2019.
“The commission identified the most likely cause of the anomaly as a thermostructural failure in the front dome area of the Z23 engine,” European Space Agency officials wrote in a statement at the time. The Z23 engine is used in the second stage of the four-stage Vega, a rocket made for small and medium-sized satellites.
Vega returned to flying this year with a successful launch in September, before suffering another failure on November 16, which resulted in the loss of satellites for France and Spain. The latest incident remains under investigation.
FalconEye 2 was moved from a Vega rocket to a Soyuz rocket in early 2020, according to SpaceNews.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
Source link
