November 8, 2017

Vega successfully orbits MOHAMMED VI - A satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco

Tuesday 7 November, Vega accomplished a flawless launch from Europe’s spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), orbiting the MOHAMMED VI - A satellite built by Thales Alenia Space on a bus supplied by Airbus Defence & Space for the Kingdom of Morocco. The launch was the 10th this year from the CSG and marks Vega’s 11th flight.

MOHAMMED VI - A is the Kingdom of Morocco’s first very-high-resolution Earth-observing satellite. It is intended to perform Earth observation for mapping and land surveying activities, agricultural monitoring, prevention and management of natural disasters, tracking of changes in the environment and desertification, as well as border and coastal surveillance.

After this latest success for Vega, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall commented: “This 10th launch of the year from the Guiana Space Centre is the latest demonstration of the excellence of our operations teams, to which President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute on his recent visit to French Guiana. The launch orbited Morocco’s first very-high-resolution Earth-observing satellite and I would like to thank the Kingdom of Morocco, a longstanding partner of France in the field of space, for its faith in us. I would also like to congratulate all of the teams to whom we owe this latest success for Vega, at ESA, Arianespace, Avio and across the European space industry, and of course at CNES, whose prowess in launch operations was once again on show.”

Check out the photos of the VV11 flight campaign at the Guiana Space Centre at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cnes/albums

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CONTACTS
Fabienne Lissak    Head of Media    Tel: +33 (0)1 44 76 78 37    fabienne.lissak@cnes.fr
Pascale Bresson    Press Officer    Tel: +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39    pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Raphaël Sart    Press Officer    Tel: +33 (0)1 44 76 74 51    raphael.sart@cnes.fr

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