Credit: Airbus
Airbus has tapped Avio to launch its first Pléiades Neo Next Earth observation satellite aboard a Vega C rocket. The mission is expected to launch in early 2028.
The Airbus Defence and Space-operated Pléiades Neo Next programme is the successor to the Pléiades Neo constellation, which provides very high-resolution optical Earth observation data to governmental and commercial customers. According to Airbus, the Pléiades Neo Next satellites will offer native resolution in the 20-cm class, a significant improvement over the 30-cm capability of the current Pléiades Neo satellites. The new constellation is also expected to offer increased revisit rates and feature an upgraded ground segment capable of handling a higher volume of imagery requests.
On 27 January, Airbus announced that it had awarded a contract to Avio to launch the first Pléiades Neo Next satellite aboard a Vega C rocket from the Guiana Space Centre. Airbus’s selection of Vega C reflects renewed confidence in the rocket’s reliability following its return to service in October 2023. That return to flight followed a December 2022 failure that resulted in the loss of two Airbus Pléiades Neo Earth observation satellites.
The announcement of the Pléiades Neo Next launch contract appears to align with a 19 December Avio announcement that referenced two launch contracts unnamed customers valued at over €100 million. That press release described one of the customer payloads as an Earth observation satellite with a payload mass of 1,000 kilograms, a planned 2028 launch, and placement into an approximately 500-kilometre sun-synchronous orbit. All of this is consistent with a Pléiades Neo Next mission.
At the time of the initial announcement, Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo presented the contracts as proof of Vega C’s strength in both the European and export launch markets.
“Avio is proud to have signed these two contracts as a result of commercial activities in Europe and with export customers carried out by its new commercial team under the new responsibilities as Vega C launch service provider,” said Ranzo. “This win undoubtedly demonstrates Vega C’s competitiveness in both the European and export markets.”
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