Area followers can have some rocket motion to digest their turkey by.
The medium-lift Vega C rocket is scheduled to raise off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on Thursday (Nov. 24) at 9:57 p.m. EST (10:47 p.m. native time and 0257 GMT on Nov. 25). You’ll be able to watch the launch reside right here at Area.com, courtesy of Arianespace, which operates the Vega C, or directly via the France-based company (opens in new tab).
The 115-foot-tall (35 meters) Vega C rocket will carry to sun-synchronous orbit the satellites Pléiades Neo 5 and Pléiades Neo 6, which collectively weigh 4,359 kilos (1,977 kilograms).
Associated: The history of rockets
The 2 spacecraft will full the Pléiades Neo Earth-imaging constellation, which is owned and operated by European aerospace large Airbus.
“The constellation is made of 4 an identical satellites, constructed utilizing the most recent Airbus improvements and technological developments, and permits to picture any level of the globe, a number of instances per day, at 30-centimeter [12 inches] decision,” Arianespace wrote in a description of Thursday’s Vega C mission (opens in new tab).
“Extremely agile and reactive, they are often tasked as much as quarter-hour earlier than acquisition and ship the pictures again to Earth inside the following hour,” Arianespace added. “Smaller, lighter, extra agile, correct and reactive than the competitors, they’re the primary of their class whose capability can be absolutely commercially obtainable.”
Vega C was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is now operated by Arianespace. The brand new rocket is a extra highly effective variant of the unique Vega, which made its debut in 2012.
Vega C’s inaugural flight occurred this past July, when the rocket efficiently launched a 650-pound (295 kg) Italian spacecraft and 6 tiny tagalong cubesats to orbit.
Arianespace presently has three operational rockets in its secure: the 2 Vegas and Ariane 5, a robust heavy lifter. The corporate flew Russian-built Soyuz rockets for years as nicely however stopped doing so after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Arianespace will even fly the Ariane 6, the successor to the Ariane 5. ESA remains to be growing the brand new heavy lifter, which is anticipated to launch for the primary time in late 2023.
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a e-book in regards to the seek for alien life. Comply with him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
