Kourou (AFP)
A Soyuz rocket took off Tuesday from the Sinnamary launch pad in French Guiana to place the French military observation satellite CSO-2 into orbit, according to a broadcast on the Arianespace site.
The firing, initially scheduled for Monday, had to be postponed by one day due to unfavorable altitude winds.
The launcher took off at the scheduled time (1:42 p.m. Kourou time, 5:42 p.m. in Paris) for a mission of 59 minutes and 37 seconds until the separation of the satellite.
CSO-2, with a mass of 3,562 kg at take-off, must be placed in a low orbit at an altitude of 480 kilometers, from which it can identify, for example, light weapons.
It will provide images "at very high resolution in the visible and infrared domains, in clear weather, day or night", according to a press release from the National Center for Space Studies (Cnes), which is the contracting authority with the Delegation general armament.
It is one of the three satellites of the CSO constellation (optical space component), aimed at replacing the military observation satellites Helios 2A and Helios 2B, launched in 2004 and 2009 respectively, and still operational.
Its theoretical operational life is ten years.
© 2020 AFP