LIVE: Vega Flight VV09 - Sentinel-2B - March 6, 2017

[bolun]

http://www.avio.com/en/media_center/press_releases/2016/pres/avio_vega_on_the_launch_pad/

The programme of upcoming Vega launches is particularly busy. ..., followed in March 2017 by the VV09, also a “single payload”, carrying the Sentinel 2B satellite.

NSF threads:

- ESA - Sentinel-2 updates

- Vega Flight VV05 - Sentinel-2A - June 23, 2015 (01:52 UTC)

[bolun]

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2016/11/Sentinel-2B_in_the_cleanroom

Sentinel-2B in the cleanroom at ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

Image credit: ESA–G. Porter

[Rik ISS-fan]

? What happned to the origional sentinel launch plan?
Sentinel 2A launched on Vega VV06. Sentinel 2B was to be launched by (EU)Rockot, this year or early next year.
Sentinel 3A was launched by (EU)Rockot. Sentinel 3B would be launched by Vega ? VV09?.
Sentinel 5p would also be launched by (EU)Rockot this year. But that hasn't happned.
Did they change the launch slots for Sentinel 2B and 3B, or is 3B without launch opportunity?
Will Sentinel 5p and 3B be launched by (EU) Rockot or are they the next victims in the EU-Russia-Ukraine conflict. (Expert,) Dnepr, the Spanish PAZ imaging satelite and QB-50 (190 cubesat launch manifest) are previous victims. I'm looking forward to when the horizontal P120c integration facilities at CSG are finished. Then they will be able to launch up to six Vega (C) rockets annually.
Does the EU have to book Epsilon (Japanese) or Minoraur C / Athena 2 (USA) launches to get the Sentinel satellites into orbit at an acceptable time?

[Mike Jones]

Sentinel 2b and 3b have been swapped between Arianespace and Eurockot with the agreement of ESA and maybe Airbus safran Launchers (their mother company). Sentinel 5p is just delayed to 2017 on Eurockot.
Business as usual.

[jacqmans]

A quick mobile phone image of the Sentinel 2b satellite I took today at ESTEC

Will have more later.

[jacqmans]

Some press info about Sentinel-2 that was handed out today during the press event...

[jacqmans]

And one photo of me with the satellite in the clean room at ESTEC. More HR photos comming soon in L2

[jacqmans]

Sentinel 2b ready for shipment to Kourou. ESA photo

[Star One]

Are you one of the people in the bottom photo as well?

[bolun]

January 10, 2017

Europe’s Sentinel-2B arrives for its Arianespace Vega launch in March

Sentinel-2B has touched down in French Guiana, bringing the second satellite for Europe’s Copernicus program closer to its early March orbiting by Arianespace on a Vega lightweight launch vehicle.

Arriving at Félix Eboué Airport near Cayenne last week, Sentinel-2B was delivered by a chartered Antonov An-124 cargo jetliner. Following its unloading process, the satellite was readied for transfer by road to the Spaceport.

As a follow-on to Sentinel-2A – lofted by another Vega in 2015 – this latest spacecraft will become part of the European Union’s Earth observation satellite fleet called Copernicus. The program’s goals are the provision of information for agricultural and forestry practices, assisting the management of food security, tracking pollution in lakes and coastal waters, along with delivering disaster mapping and helping humanitarian relief efforts.

Vega launches for Sentinel-2B and -2A

The Sentinel-2 satellites result from a close collaboration involving the European Space Agency, the European Commission, service providers and data users. The mission was designed and built by a consortium of some 60 companies led by Airbus Defence and Space, with support from the CNES French space agency to optimize image quality and by the DLR German Aerospace Center to improve data recovery using optical communications.

Since Arianespace’s launch of Sentinel-2A in June 2015, the forerunner spacecraft has been providing imagery for the European Union Copernicus Land Monitoring Service and others.

After Sentinel-2B is orbited by Arianespace on Flight VV09 – signifying the ninth mission performed by the lightweight Vega launcher – the satellite constellation will cover the globe every five days.

http://www.arianespace.com/mission-update/sentinel-2b-delivery-vega-flight-vv09/

[bolun]

Sentinel-2B launch preparations off to a flying start

Sentinel-2B is scheduled for liftoff on 7 March at 01:49 GMT (02:49 CET; 22:49 local time on 6 March).

[bolun]

January 18, 2017

Preparations move ahead for Arianespace’s first Vega launch of 2017 from the Spaceport

Activity for Arianespace’s initial mission in 2017 with the lightweight Vega is fully underway in French Guiana, where the launch vehicle’s build-up is starting and its Sentinel-2B payload has begun the pre-flight checkout process in preparation for an early March liftoff.

This Vega mission is part of another busy year for Arianespace’s launch services, with a total of 12 flights targeted during the 12 months from French Guiana using its family of vehicles, composed of Vega in the light-lift category, the medium-lift Soyuz, and the heavy-weight Ariane 5.

Current planning – to be confirmed based on payload availability – foresees up to seven Ariane 5 launches during the year, joined by three missions utilizing Vega and two with Soyuz.

Fast-paced launch activity in the first months of 2017

Arianespace’s reactivity will be demonstrated by the six flights targeted during a three-month timeframe from January 27 (when the year’s first mission will lift off, using a Soyuz to orbit a telecommunications satellite) through the second half of April.

The upcoming Vega mission – designated Flight VV09 in Arianespace’s launcher family numbering system – will be included in this busy period.

During activity for Flight VV09, the Vega’s P80 first stage was rolled out this week to the Spaceport’s SLV launch site, where the vehicle will be built up on the launch pad. The P80 stage incorporates one of largest single-unit, solid-propellant rocket engines ever built using filament winding technology.

Standing almost 11 meters tall, and with a diameter of three meters, the P80 has an overall mass of 95 metric tons and burns approximately 88 tons of solid propellant in slightly less than two minutes. The P80 generates 300 tons of thrust to power Vega during its initial ascent from French Guiana.

Italy’s Avio Group, through the ELV subsidiary, is responsible for Vega’s development and manufacturing, with the vehicle being evolved in a European Space Agency (ESA) sponsored program since June 1998.

Vega’s Flight VV09 to expand the Copernicus satellite fleet

The Sentinel-2B payload to be lofted by Flight VV09 will join the European Union’s Earth observation satellite fleet called Copernicus. This spacecraft currently is being readied in the Spaceport’s S1B payload processing facility.

Goals of the Copernicus program are the provision of information for agricultural and forestry practices, assisting the management of food security, tracking pollution in lakes and coastal waters, along with delivering disaster mapping and helping humanitarian relief efforts.

Arianespace orbited the Sentinel-2A satellite in June 2015 on another Vega mission, with this forerunner spacecraft providing imagery for the European Union Copernicus Land Monitoring Service and others.

Development of the Sentinel-2 satellites results from a close collaboration involving the European Space Agency, the European Commission, service providers and data users. Airbus Defence and Space led consortium of some 60 companies in designing the mission and building the spacecraft, supported by the CNES French space agency in optimizing image quality and by the DLR German Aerospace Center in improving data recovery using optical communications.

http://www.arianespace.com/mission-update/preparations-first-vega-launch-2017/

[wsl2005]

Sentinel-2B's multispectral instrument being tested to make sure that it is 'light tight' at Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. This is just one of the tests the satellite is undergoing as part of a seven-week campaign to prepare it for launch. Liftoff is set for on 7 March at 01:49 GMT (02:49 CET; 22:49 local time on 6 March).


http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2017/01/Testing_Sentinel-2B_for_light

[Lewis007]

Vega's 2nd stage has been moved to the pad
(source: ESA Flickr)

[eeergo]

Third stage stacked and Sentinel-2B is being moved for fueling, already encapsulated inside the fairing.


https://twitter.com/ESA_EO/status/826809450656841729

[russianhalo117]

Third stage stacked and Sentinel-2B is being moved for fueling, already encapsulated inside the fairing.


https://twitter.com/ESA_EO/status/826809450656841729

that is not the VEGA fairing that is either an Ariane 3 or 4 fairing that has been converted to transport smaller payloads around to various CSG facilities.

[Jester]

Third stage stacked and Sentinel-2B is being moved for fueling, already encapsulated inside the fairing.


https://twitter.com/ESA_EO/status/826809450656841729

that is not the VEGA fairing that is either an Ariane 3 or 4 fairing that has been converted to transport smaller payloads around to various CSG facilities.

Correct, its called CCU2 (Container Charge Utile) AFAIK it was purpose built, based on a Ariane 4 fairing structure, not a converted fairing.

[bolun]

http://blogs.esa.int/eolaunches/2017/02/01/sentinel-2b-moved-for-fuelling/

AVUM upper stage concealed in a box arrives at the pad.

Image credit: ESA

[bolun]

Green for Sentinel-2b liftoff

[jacqmans]