The CSO/MUSIS satellites weigh 3500kg, that's far to much for Vega and even Vega C and E.I expected these Airbus D&S VHR sats to roughly the same. (AstroBus XL). But possibly they could be smaller AstroBus L/M 900-2400kg. At airbus they will know, but we have to weight until more details come out about these earth imaging satellites.
Vega is nowhere near 30 M$
The four satellites will be launched in pairs on two Vega-C rockets starting in 2020.https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/877101280874856448
I'm really surprised they manage to pack 2 30-cm resolution sats on a single Vega C. CNES had a lot of trouble packing one in a single vanilla Vega. Does Vega C have a bigger fairing?
I still don't see how they pack two of those in a 3.3m fairing if they have a 1.5m aperture, as needed for 30cm resolution from 700km up. So I think they are going to pull the same thing as with Pleiades and their resolution is going to be 30cm resampled from a 40cm native image, and they will use 1.2m apertures.
Quote from: gosnold on 09/12/2017 03:48 pmI still don't see how they pack two of those in a 3.3m fairing if they have a 1.5m aperture, as needed for 30cm resolution from 700km up. So I think they are going to pull the same thing as with Pleiades and their resolution is going to be 30cm resampled from a 40cm native image, and they will use 1.2m apertures.I have been told (by someone I have no reason to doubt) that it is 30 cm native.
Quote from: calapine on 09/13/2017 07:49 pmQuote from: gosnold on 09/12/2017 03:48 pmI still don't see how they pack two of those in a 3.3m fairing if they have a 1.5m aperture, as needed for 30cm resolution from 700km up. So I think they are going to pull the same thing as with Pleiades and their resolution is going to be 30cm resampled from a 40cm native image, and they will use 1.2m apertures.I have been told (by someone I have no reason to doubt) that it is 30 cm native.I just had the same info, but I'm still perplexed by the packing inside a Vega C+ fairing. The best I got is vertical stacking with an evolved VESPA, or a lower orbital altitude than Pléiades v1.
Well the Spacecraft is lighter than its predecessor due to redesign and technological advances in addition to change in propulsion. the new busis capable of flying as an integrated stack without using a VESPA.
Quote from: russianhalo117 on 09/14/2017 02:44 amWell the Spacecraft is lighter than its predecessor due to redesign and technological advances in addition to change in propulsion. the new busis capable of flying as an integrated stack without using a VESPA.Are you certain of that? If yes, would they be stacked one on top of the aperture of the other?
Have we seen anything on whether this will be an upgraded version of Airbus' NAOMI sensor, or an upgraded Thales HiRi sensor? The HiRi was on the previous Pleiades satellites, but as Airbus and Thales appear to have shifted away from teaming to trying to vertically integrate their EO spacecraft, I wonder if the Pleiades NEO satellites will feature a new NAOMI sensor.