The Italian Ministry of Defence’s OPTSAT-3000 satellite has been successfully launched by Arianespace (www.arianespace.com) from the Kourou European spaceport in French Guyana, using a VEGA European launcher made by AVIO.

The satellite separated from the upper stage of the launcher 42min after the launch, and the first telemetry signal was acquired about 5hr later.

The whole system was supplied by Leonardo through Telespazio — a partnership of Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%).

As prime contractor, Telespazio leads an international group of companies that includes Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which built the satellite, and OHB Italia, which is responsible for the launch services.

OPTSAT-3000 consists of a satellite in a sun-synchronous Low Earth Orbit plus a Ground Segment for in-orbit control and data acquisition and processing. It will provide high-resolution images of any part of the globe.