Arianespace’s Vega returns to flight with Pleiades Neo 3

Luxembourg, 29 April 2021. – Return to flight: Arianespace launched its 18th Vega mission (VV18) with Airbus’ Pleiades Neo 3 on board, the company announced.

The mission marks Vega’s return to flight, Arianespace said, and was also the second successful launch by Arianespace’s teams in less than 72 hours.

The launch orbited Pleiades Neo 3, the first of four satellites in an advanced Earth observation constellation funded, manufactured and operated by Airbus. It also carried five small satellites using Arianespace’s rideshare system, the Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS).

The auxiliary payloads included an observation microsatellite for the Norwegian space agency, Norsat-3, and four cubesats, for the operators Eutelsat, NanoAvionics/Aurora Insight and Spire, Arianespace said.