Morocco to launch second satellite on Tuesday

CASABLANCA – A Vega rocket will launch in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday a MOHAMMED VI - B Earth observation satellite on behalf of Morocco from Kourou in French Guiana, announced Arianespace.

“For its ninth launch of the year, and the 13th Vega mission since this launcher began its career at the Guiana Space Center in 2012, Arianespace will orbit the MOHAMMED VI - B satellite,” said the world's leading satellite launch company in a statement.

“This Earth observation satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco was developed by a consortium comprising Thales Alenia Space as system prime contractor and Airbus as coprime,” it added.

The take-off is scheduled for Tuesday at 22H42 Kourou time (01H42 GMT Wednesday, 02H42 Paris time). The mission will take about 55 minutes from take-off to separation from the satellite.

It will be the second satellite of the MOHAMMED VI – A & B program, with the MOHAMMED VI – A satellite launched by Arianespace on November 7, 2017.

The MOHAMMED VI – B satellite will be mostly used for mapping and land surveying activities, regional development, agricultural monitoring, the prevention and management of natural disasters, monitoring changes in the environment and desertification, as well as border and coastal surveillance.

The MOHAMMED VI – B satellite and the MOHAMMED VI – A satellite, which was launched a year ago by Arianespace, will be complementary and will jointly enable a faster coverage of zones of interests.

The two satellites can take up to 500 very high definition photographs a day and send them to a station near Rabat-Sale airport every six hours.