On August 17 at 01:47 UTC, an Arianespace Vega rocket launched the Pléiades NEO-4 imaging satellite and four CubeSats into a Sun-synchronous orbit from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

Pléiades Neo-4 is the second satellite in a new constellation of commercial high-resolution imaging spacecraft. It is designed and operated by Airbus Defense and Space and is capable of 30-centimeter ground resolution from its 700-kilometer orbit. That’s enough to resolve something the size of a demi-baguette. Currently, Vega can only lift a single 920-kilogram Pléiades Neo satellite (or 460 two-liter soda bottles) into orbit. Starting next year, the upcoming new-and-improved Vega-C rocket will be able to launch the remaining two Neo satellites.

Although the main payload was huge, Arianespace was able to fit an additional four tiny satellites onboard, one commercial and three other scientific satellites sponsored by ESA:

• RADCUBE is a 3U(nit) CubeSat designed to provide real-time monitoring of cosmic radiation and other space weather measurements. Data will be released to the public and industry.
• LEDSAT, a 1U CubeSat, is a collaboration between universities in the U.S. and Italy. It will act as a target to test systems for orbit determination, which is the term for finding out exactly what orbit an object is in around a planet. For a satellite to be observed in low-Earth orbit, it must be in sunlight while the telescope doing the observation is in darkness. The LEDSAT solves this problem by providing its own light using a combination of LEDs and retroreflectors, which are special mirrors that reflect light exactly back towards its emitter. They will also serve as a backup communication system using flashing lights.
• The third CubeSat is the Breizh Reconnaissance Orbiter 4. The 6U CubeSat has a payload built by Unseen Labs and has a commercial signals intelligence mission.
• The final CubeSat on the mission is a 2U spacecraft called Sunstorm, an ESA mission that carries an X-ray spectrometer to study coronal mass ejections which are the source of damaging solar storms on Earth.

More Information

PDF: VV19 press kit (Arianespace)

Pléiades-Neo info page (Gunter’s Space Page)

RADCUBE info page (Gunter’s Space Page)

LEDSAT info page (Gunter’s Space Page)

Breizh Reconnaissance Orbiter (Gunter’s Space Page)

Launch video