Morocco to Launch its 1st Pleiade Satellite

Morocco will launch next November 8th its first Pleiade satellite from the European space port of Kourou in French Guiana, according to some Moroccan web sites.

Built by Airbus defense & Space Company, this Moroccan satellite will be launched with an Italian Vega rocket.

Designed as a dual civil/military system, Pleiades deliver very-high-resolution optical data products in record time and offer a daily revisit capability to any point on the globe.
They are able to obtain data in double-quick time. These types of satellites operate as a constellation in the same orbit, phased 180° apart.

Pleiades can also provide imagery anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours in response to a crisis or natural disaster. These satellites offer a wide coverage, fine detail, intensive monitoring, extensive archives and 50 cm resolution imagery.

This satellite system was born under the French-Italian ORFEO program (Optical & Radar Federated Earth Observation) between 2001 and 2003.

Equipped with innovative latest-generation space technologies like fiber-optic gyros and control moment gyros, Pleiades-HR 1A and 1B offer exceptional roll, pitch and yaw (slew) agility, enabling the system to maximize the number of acquisitions above a given area.

This agility coupled with particularly dynamic image acquisition programing make the Pleiades system very responsive to specific user requirements.