Lifting off last month from the Spaceport in French Guiana, Arianespace’s Soyuz launch vehicle delivered the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th O3b satellites into a circular orbit during a flight lasting 2hr 22min before final separation.

After the initial powered phase involving the Soyuz’s three lower stages, the flight — designated VS22 in Arianespace’s numbering system — included three burns of the Fregat upper stage to reach the targeted deployment point.

Luce Fabreguettes, Arianespace’s (www.arianespace.com) executive vice president (missions, operations and purchasing), said: “This launch follows the O3b constellation deployments in 2013, 2014 and 2018 and marks the completion of the constellation. Mission accomplished!”

The O3b fleet of medium-Earth-orbit (MEO) satellites provides commercial broadband services to nearly 50 countries. Including the four O3b satellites put into orbit by Flight VS22, Arianespace has launched a total of 61 spacecraft on
behalf of satellite operator SES.

Since 1999, Arianespace has deployed a total of 113 constellation satellites (87 commercial and 26 institutional) for telecommunications and connectivity, Earth observation and navigation applications.

The company’s current launcher family comprises the heavy-lift Ariane 5, the medium-lift Soyuz and the lightweight Vega.