Upcoming Satellite Launch from South America Broadcast Live

A new set of space instruments is set to launch tonight, including a satellite to monitor carbon dioxide and four Earth-observation spacecraft. The launch will take place from a spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 10:03 p.m. EDT.

The mission involves the Vega C rocket, operated by the French aerospace company Arianespace. This four-stage rocket, standing 115 feet tall, will carry five payloads into orbit, including the MicroCarb satellite and the CNES’s CO3D constellation.

MicroCarb is a 180-kilogram satellite designed to map sources and sinks of carbon dioxide globally, with the ability to measure concentrations with one part per million precision. It will operate in a sun-synchronous orbit at 650 km altitude for at least five years.

The other four satellites form the CO3D constellation and were built by Airbus. Each weighs around 250 kg and will orbit at 502 km altitude for more than six years. They are equipped with advanced optical instruments capable of capturing high-resolution 3D maps of Earth’s land surfaces between latitudes -60° and +70°.

About 57 minutes after liftoff, the CO3D satellites will deploy, followed by MicroCarb approximately 44 minutes later.

This launch marks the fifth overall for Vega C, following a previous failure in December 2022 caused by a second-stage anomaly. The most recent launches have been successful, including missions for the European Space Agency such as the Sentinel-1C satellite and the Biomass forest-monitoring spacecraft.