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Built by Airbus, Pléiades Neo 4, the second satellite of the Pléiades Neo Earth observation constellation, was successfully launched by Arianespace’s European launcher Vega from French Guiana earlier this week.

Pléiades Neo 4 was released from the launch vehicle, very close to its final 620km sun-synchronous polar orbit. The satellite will be phased 180deg with Pléiades Neo 3 on the same orbit to start forming a constellation — this will enable daily imaging of any place on Earth at 30cm native resolution, and between two- and four-times a day when the four-satellite constellation is complete.

François Lombard, Airbus Defence and Space head of intelligence, said: “Pléiades Neo will offer a truly best-in-class capability to our customers and will strongly enhance our position in the very high-resolution market.

“The first images from Pléiades Neo 3 are outstanding and confirm that we took the right decision in terms of design and performance to address the increasingly demanding requirements of the geospatial sector.”

Comprising four identical satellites, the 100% Airbus manufactured, owned and operated Pléiades Neo constellation offers a native resolution of 30cm with an imaging swath of 14km, the widest in its category.

Thanks to its unmatched agility, the constellation will be able to cover the entire Earth landmass five times per year. The new satellites will work hand in hand with the existing Pléiades satellites and the rest of the Airbus dozen-strong Earth observation satellite fleet.

It is equipped with the next generation silicon carbide optical instrument, building on technology first pioneered by Airbus in the early 2000s.

The Pléiades Neo constellation will also benefit from laser optical and Ka-band links with the Airbus SpaceDataHighway (EDRS) geostationary satellites to enable urgent acquisitions less than 40min after tasking, to swiftly respond to the most critical situations.