Countdown Started for Launch of Mohammed VI-B Satellite

The countdown has started for the launch of the Mohammed VI-B satellite, which is being installed on its launch pad at the Kourou base in French Guiana, before the official launch scheduled for the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.

Images posted by Arianespace website from the Kourou military base in French Guiana (South America) have shown that the installation of the Mohammed VI-B satellite on its launch pad is well underway.

The Mohammed VI-B satellite will thus join into orbit the Mohammed VI-A earth observation satellite operating since 8 November 2017.

Like the first satellite, the MOHAMMED VI – B satellite is part of Morocco’s spatial program launched in 2013. The realization of this program, spreading over 5 years, has been entrusted to a consortium made up of the Thales Alenia Space as system prime contractor and Airbus as co-prime.

Arianespace confirmed that the lightweight vehicle and passenger – the MOHAMMED VI – B satellite – are flight-ready, along with the Spaceport’s infrastructure and the network of downrange tracking stations.

All is now set for the liftoff on November 21 at precisely 1:42:31 am GMT for a mission lasting 55 minutes and 57 seconds, the space agency said.

According to Arianespace, Once in orbit, the Mohammed VI-B satellite will be used primarily for mapping and land surveying activities, regional development, agricultural monitoring, the prevention and management of natural disasters, monitoring changes in the environment and desertification, as well as border and coastal surveillance.

Designed to be complementary, the two spacecraft will work together to enable faster coverage of zones of interests.

With this second satellite, the kingdom will become the third country on the African continent to be endowed with these technologies, after Egypt and South Africa, but the first on the continent to deploy twin satellites.