Vega Is Cleared For Liftoff With The PRISMA Earth Observation Satellite | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.14.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.16.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.17.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Thu, Mar 21, 2019

Vega Is Cleared For Liftoff With The PRISMA Earth Observation Satellite

Launch Scheduled For Thursday From French Guiana

The 14th Vega mission from French Guiana – which will orbit an Italian Space Agency Earth observation satellite – has been authorized for liftoff Thursday following completion of its launch readiness review, which was conducted today at the Spaceport.

This assessment – held prior to each flight of an Arianespace launcher family member – confirmed that the vehicle and its PRISMA (PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa) payload are flight-ready, along with the Spaceport’s infrastructure and the network of downrange tracking stations.

All is now set for a March 21 liftoff at precisely 10:50:35 p.m. local time in French Guiana (1:50:35 UTC on March 22) for a mission lasting 54 minutes and 8 seconds.

Tomorrow’s mission is designated VV14 in Arianespace’s numbering system. It will be performed from the Spaceport’s SLV launch site – where the Vega was assembled and now stands in a flight-ready configuration, protected by a mobile gantry that will be withdrawn prior to liftoff.

Flight VV14 will mark Arianespace’s third mission in 2019, and is the company’s first this year using a lightweight Vega launcher – which is one of three launch vehicles operated by Arianespace at the Spaceport, along with the medium-lift Soyuz and heavyweight Ariane 5.

PRISMA, which will be operated by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), was built by OHB Italia on a dedicated platform hosting the payload supplied by Leonardo Airborne and Space Systems. Once operational, it will support major applications to protect both the planet and Italy’s national security.

It is fitted with a state-of-the-art electro-optical instrument and a hyperspectral sensor with a medium-resolution photo camera sensitive to all colors (panchromatic); and will employ these capabilities for environmental monitoring, resources management, identification and classification of crops, the fight against pollution, homeland security among other uses.

PRISMA will be the third satellite launched at the service of ASI by Arianespace, whose backlog comprises two other spacecraft for the Italian space agency.

(Source: Arianespace news release. Image provided by PRISMA System)

FMI: www.arianespace.com

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.15.25): Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach

Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach An approach conducted while operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan which authorizes the pilot of an aircraft to proceed >[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (07.15.25)

“When l became the Secretary of Defense, I committed to rebuild our military to match threats to capabilities. Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.15.25)

Aero Linx: Stearman Restorers Association Welcome to the Stearman Restorers Association. The Stearman Restorers Association is an independent “Not for Profit” 501C-3 Co>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Kjelsrud Gary Kitfox

Airplane Exhibited A Partial Loss Of Engine Power When It Was About Halfway Down The Runway Analysis: The pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane was departing from his pr>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Cessna A150L

The Flight Path Was Consistent With Low-Altitude Maneuvering On June 18, 2025, about 0922 mountain standard time, a Cessna A150L airplane, N6436F, was substantially damaged when it>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC