Overview
Proba-V is a miniaturised ESA satellite tasked with a full-scale mission: to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days.
Proba-V facts and figures | |
Launch date: | 6/7 May 2013 (04:06:31 CEST 7 May; 23:06:31 local time 6 May) |
Mass: | 140 kg |
Orbit: | Sun-synchronous polar orbit, 820 km altitude, crossing the equator every morning between 10:30 and 11:00 local time |
Instrument: | New version of the Vegetation imager previously flown on the Spot satellites |
Guest technology payloads: | Gallium nitride amplifier incorporated in communication subsystem; Energetic Particle Telescope; SATRAM radiation monitor, ADS-B aircraft signal detector; fibre optic photonics experiment |
Prime contractor: | QinetiQ Space Belgium |
Payload developer: | OIP Sensor Systems |
Ground segment: | Satellite’s mission control centre in Redu, Belgium complemented by a ground station for data reception, and a processing and archiving centre at VITO in Belgium. The exploitation phase of Proba-V will be managed by ESA from ESRIN, ESA’s Earth observation centre in Italy. |
Launcher: | Vega |