VV30 mission in a nutshell

On September 14th 2026, Avio will launch two Earth observation satellites: the Sentinel-3C of the Copernicus programme for the European Commission and the FLEX Earth Explorer for the European Space Agency (ESA). The mission, designated “VV30”, will be carried out by a Vega C launcher, the second operated by Avio, lifting off from the European Spaceport in French Guiana.

The mission is expected to last approximatively 1 hour and 56 minutes from lift-off to satellite separation.

Copernicus Sentinel-3C is the third satellite of the Sentinel-3 mission, dedicated to monitoring the health of our planet by observing oceans, land, ice and the atmosphere from space. Once in its routine phase, the mission will be jointly managed by ESA and EUMETSAT, on behalf of the European Commission, with the satellite operations performed by EUMETSAT. It provides essential data for climate monitoring, weather forecasting, environmental protection and disaster response. The satellite has a mass of 1,143 kg.

FLEX is the eighth Earth Explorer mission developed by ESA’s FutureEO programme. It is designed to monitor the health of vegetation from space by detecting the faint fluorescence emitted by plants during photosynthesis, an otherwise invisible signal linked to plant activity. This data will support insights into agricultural productivity and provides a unique way to assess plant health and better understand how photosynthesis influences the carbon and water cycles. The satellite weighs 397 kg.

The nominal duration of the mission (from liftoff to separation of all the satellites) is: 1 hour and 56 minutes.

Separation of all the satellites : 1 hour and 56 minutes.