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Ibadan, 9 October 2023 – Aerospacelab has successfully launched the PVCC satellite with support from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo). This mission will support the space community’s ongoing efforts in providing insightful Earth Observation data that will help in monitoring vegetation conditions and analyzing climate change.
The PROBA V-CC (PVCC) satellite which is an acronym for “Project for On-Board Autonomy – Vegetation – Companion CubeSat”, is a collaborative effort by VITO and OIP. It lifted off from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on October 9th at 01:36 AM UTC on a Vega rocket. Furthermore, Aerospacelab successfully established communication with the satellite, which is in good health, a few hours after the launch.
Marking another major milestone in the company’s history, PVCC is Aerospacelab’s third satellite to reach orbit and the Company fully designed and integrated it in its Belgian facility. Following in its predecessor’s path, Proba-V, PVCC’s mission aims to capture imagery using the spare spectral imager from the Proba-V satellite.
With this newest addition to the ESA fleet, the demonstration mission will allow comparing the performance of a small satellite payload on a cubesat platform. This will consequently help to obtain high-quality images of the Earth’s vegetation cover. Furthermore, it will play a vital role in the collection and analysis of environmental data, including land, water, and air monitoring.
For Benoit Deper, CEO and founder of Aerospacelab, the selection as a prime contractor is “a prestigious mark of distinction. Our team has worked tirelessly with VITO to ensure the success of this mission, which boosts the pace of progress, leading to more significant breakthroughs that will shape the future of space technology and enable the development of more effective solutions to address challenges in the sector.”
