Italy's Avio successfully launched a Vega-C rocket from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on September 15, 2026, delivering two flagship Copernicus climate-monitoring satellites into low Earth orbit.
Double payload for Europe's climate stack
The 34.8-metre rocket lifted off at 03:21 CEST on Vega-C flight VV30 — the launcher's eighth mission and second flight of 2026. Deployment placed EUMETSAT's 1,143 kg Copernicus Sentinel-3C into orbit roughly one hour and 49 seconds after liftoff, followed about an hour later by the European Space Agency's 397 kg FLEX (Fluorescence Explorer) satellite. The two spacecraft will fly roughly one kilometre apart with a 27-day revisit period.
What the two satellites will do
Sentinel-3C measures sea-surface topography and temperature, ocean colour and atmospheric aerosols using the SLSTR, OLCI, SRAL radar altimeter, microwave radiometer, laser retroreflector and DORIS instruments — extending Europe's marine-monitoring record. ESA's FLEX carries FLORIS, a fluorescence imaging spectrometer covering 500–780 nanometres, and will spend at least 3.5 years quantifying photosynthesis in the world's vegetation.
A reliability boost for Vega-C
"Today's success confirms Avio as a reliable Launch Service Operator" for Europe's climate monitoring capabilities, Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo said. The launch is the second cleanly executed Vega-C flight in nine months and cements Avio's role as commercial operator of the small launcher, which was announced alongside other European aerospace milestones this week.
Reporting based on coverage from Spaceflight Now, ESA, EUMETSAT and Avio.